--- title: "A4s vs 22: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a4s-vs-22.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a4s-vs-22" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "A4s vs 22 is close to a coin flip before the flop: 49.78% to 50.22% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a4s-vs-97s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a4s-vs-87s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a3s-vs-22.md"] --- # A4s vs 22: preflop equity A4s vs 22 is close to a coin flip before the flop: 49.78% to 50.22% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. Over all 1,712,304 boards that can follow this deal, 22 finishes with 50.22% of the pot and A4s with 49.78%. ## A4s against 22: the numbers **Exact preflop results for A4s against 22, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | A4s | 49.434 | 0.685 | 49.881 | 49.776 | | 22 | 49.881 | 0.685 | 49.434 | 50.224 | A4s is a suited hand and 22 is a pocket pair. One hand holds a pair and the other holds two cards that both outrank it, which keeps the equity closer than most people expect. With only 0.44 points between them, the board decides this matchup far more than the cards in hand. Split pots make up 0.69% of the boards, and both equity figures count them as half a win each. Among the 169 starting hands, A4s is number 35 and 22 is number 87 by strength against a random hand. **Boards behind the percentages: 41,095,296 counted in all** | Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | A4s | 20,315,000 | 282,000 | 20,499,000 | | 22 | 20,499,000 | 282,000 | 20,315,000 | Exact total: 24 deals times 1,712,304 boards. The other three counts come from the five-decimal percentages and are rounded to the nearest thousand, so read them as approximate. **A4s against 22 read as odds** | Hand | Equity as odds (to 1) | Wins one deal in | Loses one deal in | Pot odds needed to call (to 1) | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | A4s | 0.991 | 2.023 | 2.005 | 1.009 | | 22 | 1.009 | 2.005 | 2.023 | 0.991 | The last column is the smallest pot odds, written as a pot-to-call ratio, at which a call breaks even with this equity. ## Who is ahead on which flops By flop texture, 22's equity runs from 49.50% on two-tone flops up to 55.20% on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower). On two-tone flops, monotone flops and paired flops the numbers flip and A4s is the one ahead. **A4s against 22 by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | A4s wins | Ties | 22 wins | A4s equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 25.220 | 48.888 | 0.291 | 50.821 | 49.034 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 5.689 | 44.137 | 1.328 | 54.535 | 44.801 | | Two-tone | 46.545 | 50.276 | 0.439 | 49.285 | 50.496 | | Monotone | 5.212 | 48.136 | 3.783 | 48.081 | 50.028 | | Paired | 17.334 | 50.095 | 0.774 | 49.131 | 50.482 | Rainbow flops have three suits, two-tone flops repeat one suit, monotone flops are all one suit, and paired flops repeat a rank. ## Compared with a random hand The table below sets each hand against its own random-hand baseline: a change of -9.25 points for A4s, from 59.03%, and -0.11 for 22, from 50.33%. **A4s and 22 here compared with each against a random hand, in percent** | Case | Equity here | Against a random hand | Change in points | Times the random-hand equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | A4s, all flops | 49.776 | 59.034 | -9.258 | 0.84318 | | A4s, rainbow, ten or higher | 49.034 | 59.034 | -10.000 | 0.83061 | | A4s, rainbow, nine or lower | 44.801 | 59.034 | -14.233 | 0.75890 | | A4s, two-tone | 50.496 | 59.034 | -8.538 | 0.85537 | | A4s, monotone | 50.028 | 59.034 | -9.006 | 0.84744 | | A4s, paired | 50.482 | 59.034 | -8.552 | 0.85513 | | 22, all flops | 50.224 | 50.334 | -0.110 | 0.99781 | | 22, rainbow, ten or higher | 50.966 | 50.334 | +0.632 | 1.01256 | | 22, rainbow, nine or lower | 55.199 | 50.334 | +4.865 | 1.09665 | | 22, two-tone | 49.504 | 50.334 | -0.830 | 0.98351 | | 22, monotone | 49.972 | 50.334 | -0.362 | 0.99281 | | 22, paired | 49.518 | 50.334 | -0.816 | 0.98379 | ## Does a shared suit matter? The suit split reads 50.39% for 22 with a shared suit and 50.06% without one. 22 does better with a shared suit, by 0.33 points. **A4s against 22 by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | A4s wins | Ties | 22 wins | A4s equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 12 | 50.00 | 49.255 | 0.704 | 50.041 | 49.607 | | No shared suit | 12 | 50.00 | 49.612 | 0.666 | 49.722 | 49.945 | ## How often this matchup comes up Counting specific cards, A4s against 22 appears in 24 of the 1,624,350 ordered heads-up deals (0.0015%), and in 48 when the seats are swapped too (0.0030%). ## A worked example Say each player puts $100 in before the flop, making a $200 pot. On average 22 takes back $100.44 of it, which is $0.44 more than it put in, and A4s takes back $99.56, $0.44 less than it put in. Think in thousands: about 499 of 1,000 go to 22, about 494 go to A4s, and about 7 are chopped. ## The same matchup from the other side If you came looking for 22 against A4s, the numbers are the same with the hands swapped: 50.22% and 49.78%. ## Keep exploring Open the calculator with As4s against 2h2d already entered, a deal with no shared suit, and change any card to try your own hand. The matchups after it each swap one hand for a nearby one in the ranking. - [Open As4s against 2h2d in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=As4s&p2=2h2d) - [A4s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/a4s.md) - [22 combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/22.md) - [A4s vs 97s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a4s-vs-97s.md) - [A4s vs 87s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a4s-vs-87s.md) - [A3s vs 22](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a3s-vs-22.md) - [All hand matchups](https://georgelipoker.com/equity.md) ## How this was computed Each figure is a complete count over boards. Take the 24 specific deals, group them by suit pattern, deal all 1,712,304 boards against each, and compare the two seven-card hands. Equity counts a tie as half a win; the flop rows use every one of a board's ten flops. Source: our own exact count from the GeorgeLiPoker poker math library. No outside data is used. ## Related - [A4s vs 97s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a4s-vs-97s.md) - [A4s vs 87s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a4s-vs-87s.md) - [A3s vs 22: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a3s-vs-22.md)