--- title: "AA vs 99: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/aa-vs-99.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/aa-vs-99" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "AA is a big favorite over 99 before the flop: 80.86% to 19.14% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/aa-vs-88.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/aa-vs-aks.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kk-vs-99.md"] --- # AA vs 99: preflop equity AA is a big favorite over 99 before the flop: 80.86% to 19.14% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. Averaged over every possible board, AA is ahead of 99 by 61.72 points of equity, 80.86% to 19.14%. ## AA against 99: the numbers **Exact preflop results for AA against 99, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | AA | 80.679 | 0.364 | 18.957 | 80.861 | | 99 | 18.957 | 0.364 | 80.679 | 19.139 | Each side holds one of the pocket pairs: AA and 99. Two pairs against each other is a one-way street: the lower pair needs one of its two remaining cards. A gap this wide means 99 is in trouble before the flop and has few good runouts. Split pots make up 0.36% of the boards, and both equity figures count them as half a win each. By strength against a random hand, AA holds place 1 of 169 and 99 holds place 6. **Boards behind the percentages: 61,642,944 counted in all** | Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | AA | 49,733,000 | 224,000 | 11,686,000 | | 99 | 11,686,000 | 224,000 | 49,733,000 | 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. **AA against 99 read as odds** | Hand | Equity as odds (to 1) | Wins one deal in | Loses one deal in | Pot odds needed to call (to 1) | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | AA | 4.225 | 1.239 | 5.275 | 0.237 | | 99 | 0.237 | 5.275 | 1.239 | 4.225 | In the last column, a pot-to-call ratio at or above the figure makes a call break even or better at this equity. ## Who is ahead on which flops Break the boards down by their first three cards and AA is strongest on paired flops (86.42%) and weakest on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower) (69.51%). AA stays ahead on all five textures, but the swing between them is large, so how the flop looks matters a great deal. **AA against 99 by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | AA wins | Ties | 99 wins | AA equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 24.595 | 82.989 | 0.187 | 16.824 | 83.082 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 6.314 | 68.988 | 1.048 | 29.964 | 69.512 | | Two-tone | 46.363 | 79.570 | 0.348 | 20.082 | 79.744 | | Monotone | 5.152 | 74.381 | 1.727 | 23.892 | 75.244 | | Paired | 17.576 | 86.416 | 0.007 | 13.577 | 86.419 | 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 Against one random hand instead, AA holds 85.20% and 99 holds 72.06%. Facing each other changes that by -4.34 points for AA and -52.92 points for 99. **AA and 99 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 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | AA, all flops | 80.861 | 85.204 | -4.343 | 0.94903 | | AA, rainbow, ten or higher | 83.082 | 85.204 | -2.122 | 0.97510 | | AA, rainbow, nine or lower | 69.512 | 85.204 | -15.692 | 0.81583 | | AA, two-tone | 79.744 | 85.204 | -5.460 | 0.93592 | | AA, monotone | 75.244 | 85.204 | -9.960 | 0.88310 | | AA, paired | 86.419 | 85.204 | +1.215 | 1.01426 | | 99, all flops | 19.139 | 72.057 | -52.918 | 0.26561 | | 99, rainbow, ten or higher | 16.918 | 72.057 | -55.139 | 0.23479 | | 99, rainbow, nine or lower | 30.488 | 72.057 | -41.569 | 0.42311 | | 99, two-tone | 20.256 | 72.057 | -51.801 | 0.28111 | | 99, monotone | 24.756 | 72.057 | -47.301 | 0.34356 | | 99, paired | 13.581 | 72.057 | -58.476 | 0.18848 | ## Does a shared suit matter? Two kinds of deal exist here. In 30 of them the hands share a suit and AA holds 80.99%. In 6 they do not, and it holds 80.19%. AA does better with a shared suit, by 0.80 points. **AA against 99 by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | AA wins | Ties | 99 wins | AA equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 30 | 83.33 | 80.804 | 0.380 | 18.816 | 80.994 | | No shared suit | 6 | 16.67 | 80.052 | 0.283 | 19.665 | 80.194 | ## How often this matchup comes up Out of 1,624,350 ways to deal two seats two cards each, 36 are AA in one seat and 99 in the other (0.0022%); with the seats swapped too, 72 (0.0044%). ## A worked example To see what the equity is worth, imagine $100 each in a $200 pot. AA is worth $161.72 on average (+$61.72); 99 is worth $38.28 (-$61.72). Per 1,000 deals: AA wins about 807, 99 wins about 189, and about 4 end in a split pot. ## The same matchup from the other side 99 against AA adds nothing new: it is 19.14% for 99 and 80.86% for AA, the same figures reversed. ## Keep exploring Open the calculator with AsAh against 9d9c 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 AsAh against 9d9c in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=AsAh&p2=9d9c) - [AA combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/aa.md) - [99 combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/99.md) - [AA vs 88](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/aa-vs-88.md) - [AA vs AKs](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/aa-vs-aks.md) - [KK vs 99](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kk-vs-99.md) - [All hand matchups](https://georgelipoker.com/equity.md) ## How this was computed All 1,712,304 five-card boards are dealt for every suit pattern among the 36 specific deals of AA against 99, and both hands are scored on each. That is a full count, so the percentages are exact. Ties are half a win each, and each board appears once per flop it contains. Source: our own exact count from the GeorgeLiPoker poker math library. No outside data is used. ## Related - [AA vs 88: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/aa-vs-88.md) - [AA vs AKs: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/aa-vs-aks.md) - [KK vs 99: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kk-vs-99.md)