--- title: "A9s vs 44: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a9s-vs-44.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a9s-vs-44" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "A9s vs 44 is close to a coin flip before the flop: 48.49% to 51.51% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a9s-vs-j9s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a9s-vs-jto.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/ato-vs-44.md"] --- # A9s vs 44: preflop equity A9s vs 44 is close to a coin flip before the flop: 48.49% to 51.51% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. The exact count puts 44 at 51.51% and A9s at 48.49% when the two hands see all five board cards. ## A9s against 44: the numbers **Exact preflop results for A9s against 44, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | A9s | 48.233 | 0.520 | 51.247 | 48.493 | | 44 | 51.247 | 0.520 | 48.233 | 51.507 | A9s, a suited hand, plays 44, a pocket pair. A pair against two higher cards is the classic race: the pair is usually a small favorite or close to even, and each overcard that pairs is a way to take the lead. That is a slim edge: neither hand is far ahead. About 0.52% of boards chop the pot, which is why equity sits slightly above the win figure for both hands. A9s ranks number 18 of 169 starting hands, and 44 ranks number 48, by equity against a random hand. **Boards behind the percentages: 41,095,296 counted in all** | Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | A9s | 19,821,000 | 214,000 | 21,060,000 | | 44 | 21,060,000 | 214,000 | 19,821,000 | 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. **A9s against 44 read as odds** | Hand | Equity as odds (to 1) | Wins one deal in | Loses one deal in | Pot odds needed to call (to 1) | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | A9s | 0.941 | 2.073 | 1.951 | 1.062 | | 44 | 1.062 | 1.951 | 2.073 | 0.941 | 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 Split by what the flop looks like, 44 peaks at 58.47% on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower) and bottoms out at 50.29% on two-tone flops. 44 stays ahead on all five textures. **A9s against 44 by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | A9s wins | Ties | 44 wins | A9s equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 25.220 | 48.645 | 0.247 | 51.108 | 48.768 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 5.689 | 41.095 | 0.866 | 58.039 | 41.528 | | Two-tone | 46.545 | 49.546 | 0.334 | 50.120 | 49.713 | | Monotone | 5.212 | 47.452 | 2.826 | 49.722 | 48.865 | | Paired | 17.334 | 46.685 | 0.609 | 52.706 | 46.989 | 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 Each hand has a baseline against a random hand: 62.78% for A9s, 57.02% for 44. Here the change is -14.29 and -5.51 points. **A9s and 44 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 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | A9s, all flops | 48.493 | 62.781 | -14.288 | 0.77242 | | A9s, rainbow, ten or higher | 48.768 | 62.781 | -14.013 | 0.77680 | | A9s, rainbow, nine or lower | 41.528 | 62.781 | -21.253 | 0.66147 | | A9s, two-tone | 49.713 | 62.781 | -13.068 | 0.79185 | | A9s, monotone | 48.865 | 62.781 | -13.916 | 0.77834 | | A9s, paired | 46.989 | 62.781 | -15.792 | 0.74846 | | 44, all flops | 51.507 | 57.023 | -5.516 | 0.90327 | | 44, rainbow, ten or higher | 51.232 | 57.023 | -5.791 | 0.89844 | | 44, rainbow, nine or lower | 58.472 | 57.023 | +1.449 | 1.02541 | | 44, two-tone | 50.287 | 57.023 | -6.736 | 0.88187 | | 44, monotone | 51.135 | 57.023 | -5.888 | 0.89674 | | 44, paired | 53.011 | 57.023 | -4.012 | 0.92964 | ## Does a shared suit matter? Looking only at deals where the hands share a suit, 44 has 51.70%; looking only at deals where they do not, 51.32%. 44 does better with a shared suit, by 0.38 points. **A9s against 44 by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | A9s wins | Ties | 44 wins | A9s equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 12 | 50.00 | 48.025 | 0.556 | 51.419 | 48.303 | | No shared suit | 12 | 50.00 | 48.441 | 0.483 | 51.076 | 48.682 | ## How often this matchup comes up This page stands for 24 specific-card matchups (0.0015% of 1,624,350 ordered deals), or 48 once you count the seats both ways (0.0030%). ## A worked example With $100 from each side, the $200 pot is split on average as $103.02 for 44 and $96.98 for A9s; the first side gains $3.02 per all-in and the second gives up $3.02. Over a long run, 1,000 deals split into about 513 for 44, 482 for A9s and 5 tied. ## The same matchup from the other side Read it from the other side: 44 against A9s is the same matchup with the numbers swapped, so 44 holds 51.51% and A9s holds 48.49%. That address sends you back to this page. ## Keep exploring Try As9s against 4h4d in the calculator: the hands share no suit, and every card can be changed. The links after it are the closest matchups in the ranking. - [Open As9s against 4h4d in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=As9s&p2=4h4d) - [A9s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/a9s.md) - [44 combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/44.md) - [A9s vs J9s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a9s-vs-j9s.md) - [A9s vs JTo](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a9s-vs-jto.md) - [ATo vs 44](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/ato-vs-44.md) - [All hand matchups](https://georgelipoker.com/equity.md) ## How this was computed Nothing here is simulated. The 24 deals of A9s against 44 fall into a few suit patterns, each dealt against all 1,712,304 boards, with both best five-card hands compared on every board. Ties give each hand half a win, and the flop rows count a board under each of its ten flops. Source: our own exact count from the GeorgeLiPoker poker math library. No outside data is used. ## Related - [A9s vs J9s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a9s-vs-j9s.md) - [A9s vs JTo: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a9s-vs-jto.md) - [ATo vs 44: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/ato-vs-44.md)