AKs vs A2s: preflop equity

If AKs and A2s get all the chips in before the flop, AKs owns 71.10% of the pot in the long run and A2s owns 28.90%.

AKs

71.10%

Wins 68.86%, ties 4.49%

A2s

28.90%

Wins 26.65%, ties 4.49%

Equity counts a tie as half a win. Exact over every board.

AKs against A2s: the numbers

Exact preflop results for AKs against A2s, in percent
HandWinsTiesLosesEquity
AKs68.8614.48626.65371.104
A2s26.6534.48668.86128.896

This is a contest between two suited hands, AKs and A2s. 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 clear edge, 71.10% to 28.90%, but A2s still wins often enough that one hand proves nothing. 4.49% of boards are ties, so the equity of each hand is its win rate plus half of that.

For context, AKs sits at number 8 of 169 starting hands and A2s at number 46 when each is run against a random hand.

Boards behind the percentages: 20,547,648 counted in all
HandBoards won, aboutBoards tied, aboutBoards lost, about
AKs14,149,000922,0005,477,000
A2s5,477,000922,00014,149,000

12 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.

AKs against A2s read as odds
HandEquity as odds (to 1)Wins one deal inLoses one deal inPot odds needed to call (to 1)
AKs2.4611.4523.7520.406
A2s0.4063.7521.4522.461

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, AKs' equity runs from 58.00% on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower) up to 77.58% on rainbow flops topped by a ten or better. AKs stays ahead on all five textures, but the swing between them is large, so how the flop looks matters a great deal.

AKs against A2s by flop texture, in percent
FlopShare of flopsAKs winsTiesA2s winsAKs equity
Rainbow, ten or higher23.86776.3612.42921.21077.576
Rainbow, nine or lower7.04255.7554.48339.76257.997
Two-tone46.54368.9522.60128.44770.252
Monotone5.21562.3784.60333.01964.680
Paired17.33365.56412.34822.08871.738

A rainbow flop shows three suits, a two-tone flop repeats one suit, a monotone flop is a single suit, and a paired flop repeats a rank.

Compared with a random hand

Compared with a random opponent, this matchup shifts AKs from 67.05% by +4.05 points and A2s from 57.38% by -28.48 points.

AKs and A2s here compared with each against a random hand, in percent
CaseEquity hereAgainst a random handChange in pointsTimes the random-hand equity
AKs, all flops71.10467.045+4.0591.06054
AKs, rainbow, ten or higher77.57667.045+10.5311.15707
AKs, rainbow, nine or lower57.99767.045-9.0480.86505
AKs, two-tone70.25267.045+3.2071.04783
AKs, monotone64.68067.045-2.3650.96473
AKs, paired71.73867.045+4.6931.07000
A2s, all flops28.89657.379-28.4830.50360
A2s, rainbow, ten or higher22.42457.379-34.9550.39080
A2s, rainbow, nine or lower42.00357.379-15.3760.73203
A2s, two-tone29.74857.379-27.6310.51845
A2s, monotone35.32057.379-22.0590.61556
A2s, paired28.26257.379-29.1170.49255

Does a shared suit matter?

Every legal deal of AKs against A2s leaves the hands with no suit in common, so the suit split does not apply here.

AKs against A2s by suit overlap, in percent
DealsSpecific dealsShare of dealsAKs winsTiesA2s winsAKs equity
Share a suit00.00not possiblenot possiblenot possiblenot possible
No shared suit12100.0068.8614.48626.65371.104

How often this matchup comes up

You will meet this exact matchup 0.0015% of the time in a random heads-up deal: 24 of 1,624,350, counting either seat order.

A worked example

A $100 all-in from each player makes a $200 pot, and the exact equity says AKs gets $142.20 of it on average and A2s gets $57.80.

Scaled to 1,000 deals, that is roughly 689 wins for AKs, 266 for A2s and 45 chopped pots.

The same matchup from the other side

A2s against AKs adds nothing new: it is 28.90% for A2s and 71.10% for AKs, the same figures reversed.

The calculator link fills in AsKs against Ah2h, 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

Each figure is a complete count over boards. Take the 12 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.

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