A5s
57.32%
Wins 57.07%, ties 0.51%
Q9s
42.68%
Wins 42.42%, ties 0.51%
A5s against Q9s: the numbers
| Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A5s | 57.065 | 0.513 | 42.422 | 57.321 |
| Q9s | 42.422 | 0.513 | 57.065 | 42.679 |
This is a contest between two suited hands, A5s and Q9s. The two hands share no rank, which makes this a pure matchup of card strength, straight chances and flush chances.
A5s is ahead, but Q9s is far from dead: it takes 424 of every 1,000 deals outright. 0.51% of boards are ties, so the equity of each hand is its win rate plus half of that.
By strength against a random hand, A5s holds place 30 of 169 and Q9s holds place 43.
| Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about |
|---|---|---|---|
| A5s | 15,634,000 | 141,000 | 11,622,000 |
| Q9s | 11,622,000 | 141,000 | 15,634,000 |
16 specific deals times 1,712,304 boards gives the exact total. The won, tied and lost counts are approximations from the five-decimal percentages, rounded to the nearest thousand.
| Hand | Equity as odds (to 1) | Wins one deal in | Loses one deal in | Pot odds needed to call (to 1) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A5s | 1.343 | 1.752 | 2.357 | 0.745 |
| Q9s | 0.745 | 2.357 | 1.752 | 1.343 |
The last column is the break-even price: the pot odds a call needs to offer, as a ratio of pot to call.
Who is ahead on which flops
Across the five flop textures A5s' equity moves by 7.38 points, from 54.85% on monotone flops to 62.23% on paired flops. A5s stays ahead on all five textures.
| Flop | Share of flops | A5s wins | Ties | Q9s wins | A5s equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rainbow, ten or higher | 24.543 | 56.318 | 0.162 | 43.520 | 56.399 |
| Rainbow, nine or lower | 6.366 | 57.447 | 0.856 | 41.697 | 57.875 |
| Two-tone | 46.727 | 56.075 | 0.276 | 43.649 | 56.213 |
| Monotone | 5.273 | 53.131 | 3.431 | 43.438 | 54.847 |
| Paired | 17.091 | 61.912 | 0.641 | 37.447 | 62.232 |
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
How much does the opponent matter? Compared with its random-hand 59.92%, A5s changes by -2.60 points, and Q9s, from 57.66%, by -14.98.
| Case | Equity here | Against a random hand | Change in points | Times the random-hand equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A5s, all flops | 57.321 | 59.923 | -2.602 | 0.95658 |
| A5s, rainbow, ten or higher | 56.399 | 59.923 | -3.524 | 0.94119 |
| A5s, rainbow, nine or lower | 57.875 | 59.923 | -2.048 | 0.96582 |
| A5s, two-tone | 56.213 | 59.923 | -3.710 | 0.93809 |
| A5s, monotone | 54.847 | 59.923 | -5.076 | 0.91529 |
| A5s, paired | 62.232 | 59.923 | +2.309 | 1.03853 |
| Q9s, all flops | 42.679 | 57.664 | -14.985 | 0.74013 |
| Q9s, rainbow, ten or higher | 43.601 | 57.664 | -14.063 | 0.75612 |
| Q9s, rainbow, nine or lower | 42.125 | 57.664 | -15.539 | 0.73053 |
| Q9s, two-tone | 43.787 | 57.664 | -13.877 | 0.75935 |
| Q9s, monotone | 45.153 | 57.664 | -12.511 | 0.78304 |
| Q9s, paired | 37.768 | 57.664 | -19.896 | 0.65497 |
Does a shared suit matter?
When the hands share a suit, A5s holds 59.21%; when they do not, it holds 56.69%. A5s does better with a shared suit, by 2.52 points.
| Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | A5s wins | Ties | Q9s wins | A5s equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Share a suit | 4 | 25.00 | 58.915 | 0.594 | 40.491 | 59.212 |
| No shared suit | 12 | 75.00 | 56.448 | 0.486 | 43.066 | 56.691 |
How often this matchup comes up
Exactly 16 specific deals fit this matchup in one seat order, which is 0.0010% of 1,624,350; both orders together give 32, or 0.0020%.
A worked example
To see what the equity is worth, imagine $100 each in a $200 pot. A5s is worth $114.64 on average (+$14.64); Q9s is worth $85.36 (-$14.64).
Out of 1,000 deals you should see around 571 outright wins for A5s, 424 for Q9s, and 5 split pots.
The same matchup from the other side
If you came looking for Q9s against A5s, the numbers are the same with the hands swapped: 42.68% and 57.32%.
Keep exploring
The calculator link fills in As5s against Qh9h, a deal where the two hands share no suit. Change any card to test your own hand. The neighboring matchups below swap one of the two hands for one of similar strength.
How this was computed
The figures are counted, not estimated: 1,712,304 boards for every suit pattern of the 16 specific deals, with both seven-card hands compared each time. Equity gives half a win for a tie. For the flop rows, a board is counted once under each of the ten flops inside it.
Source: our own exact count from the GeorgeLiPoker poker math library. No outside data is used.
Bring your own hands to a session
Review the spots you actually play against these numbers in a Game Assessment, and leave with a one-page written plan.
Book a session