--- title: "A9o vs A5s: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a9o-vs-a5s.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a9o-vs-a5s" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "A9o is a big favorite over A5s before the flop: 63.45% to 36.55% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a9o-vs-a6s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a9o-vs-kto.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kjo-vs-a5s.md"] --- # A9o vs A5s: preflop equity A9o is a big favorite over A5s before the flop: 63.45% to 36.55% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. The exact count puts A9o at 63.45% and A5s at 36.55% when the two hands see all five board cards. ## A9o against A5s: the numbers **Exact preflop results for A9o against A5s, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | A9o | 56.004 | 14.899 | 29.097 | 63.454 | | A5s | 29.097 | 14.899 | 56.004 | 36.546 | A9o and A5s are an offsuit hand and a suited hand, in that order. Because the hands share one rank, the one with the higher kicker is ahead when that rank pairs and the other hand is mostly drawing. That is a modest edge, the kind that shows up over many hands and is easy to miss in one. Ties are 14.90% of the outcomes here; each tied board gives both hands half the pot. Ranked by equity against a random hand, A9o is number 25 of the 169 starting hands and A5s is number 30. **Boards behind the percentages: 61,642,944 counted in all** | Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | A9o | 34,523,000 | 9,184,000 | 17,936,000 | | A5s | 17,936,000 | 9,184,000 | 34,523,000 | The total is exact: 36 specific deals times 1,712,304 boards. The three counts are approximate, worked out from the percentages to five decimals and rounded to the nearest thousand. **A9o against A5s read as odds** | Hand | Equity as odds (to 1) | Wins one deal in | Loses one deal in | Pot odds needed to call (to 1) | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | A9o | 1.736 | 1.786 | 3.437 | 0.576 | | A5s | 0.576 | 3.437 | 1.786 | 1.736 | 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 Across the five flop textures A9o's equity moves by 7.60 points, from 60.09% on paired flops to 67.69% on rainbow flops topped by a ten or better. A9o stays ahead on all five textures. **A9o against A5s by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | A9o wins | Ties | A5s wins | A9o equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 24.588 | 60.623 | 14.127 | 25.250 | 67.687 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 6.360 | 59.924 | 3.401 | 36.675 | 61.624 | | Two-tone | 46.527 | 57.468 | 11.204 | 31.328 | 63.070 | | Monotone | 5.192 | 55.032 | 10.598 | 34.370 | 60.331 | | Paired | 17.333 | 44.379 | 31.416 | 24.205 | 60.087 | Read the flop types this way: rainbow has three suits, two-tone has two cards of one suit, monotone has three, and paired repeats a rank. ## Compared with a random hand Compared with a random opponent, this matchup shifts A9o from 60.77% by +2.68 points and A5s from 59.92% by -23.37 points. **A9o and A5s 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 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | A9o, all flops | 63.454 | 60.773 | +2.681 | 1.04411 | | A9o, rainbow, ten or higher | 67.687 | 60.773 | +6.914 | 1.11377 | | A9o, rainbow, nine or lower | 61.624 | 60.773 | +0.851 | 1.01400 | | A9o, two-tone | 63.070 | 60.773 | +2.297 | 1.03780 | | A9o, monotone | 60.331 | 60.773 | -0.442 | 0.99273 | | A9o, paired | 60.087 | 60.773 | -0.686 | 0.98871 | | A5s, all flops | 36.546 | 59.923 | -23.377 | 0.60988 | | A5s, rainbow, ten or higher | 32.313 | 59.923 | -27.610 | 0.53924 | | A5s, rainbow, nine or lower | 38.376 | 59.923 | -21.547 | 0.64042 | | A5s, two-tone | 36.930 | 59.923 | -22.993 | 0.61629 | | A5s, monotone | 39.669 | 59.923 | -20.254 | 0.66200 | | A5s, paired | 39.913 | 59.923 | -20.010 | 0.66607 | ## Does a shared suit matter? When the hands share a suit, A9o holds 64.22%; when they do not, it holds 63.07%. A9o does better with a shared suit, by 1.15 points. **A9o against A5s by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | A9o wins | Ties | A5s wins | A9o equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 12 | 33.33 | 56.693 | 15.056 | 28.251 | 64.221 | | No shared suit | 24 | 66.67 | 55.660 | 14.820 | 29.520 | 63.070 | ## How often this matchup comes up Exactly 36 specific deals fit this matchup in one seat order, which is 0.0022% of 1,624,350; both orders together give 72, or 0.0044%. ## A worked example To see what the equity is worth, imagine $100 each in a $200 pot. A9o is worth $126.90 on average (+$26.90); A5s is worth $73.10 (-$26.90). Run 1,000 deals and the tally comes out near 560 for A9o, 291 for A5s and 149 ties. ## The same matchup from the other side The mirror image, A5s against A9o, is 36.55% to 63.45%, and its address redirects to this page. ## Keep exploring As9h against Ad5d is a ready-made deal for the calculator, with no suit in common between the hands. The neighboring matchups below replace one hand with another of similar strength. - [Open As9h against Ad5d in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=As9h&p2=Ad5d) - [A9o combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/a9o.md) - [A5s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/a5s.md) - [A9o vs A6s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a9o-vs-a6s.md) - [A9o vs KTo](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a9o-vs-kto.md) - [KJo vs A5s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kjo-vs-a5s.md) - [All hand matchups](https://georgelipoker.com/equity.md) ## How this was computed Each figure is a complete count over boards. Take the 36 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 - [A9o vs A6s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a9o-vs-a6s.md) - [A9o vs KTo: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a9o-vs-kto.md) - [KJo vs A5s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kjo-vs-a5s.md)