--- title: "AKs vs AQs: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/aks-vs-aqs.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/aks-vs-aqs" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "AKs is a big favorite over AQs before the flop: 71.28% to 28.72% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/aks-vs-ajs.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/aks-vs-ako.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/77-vs-aqs.md"] --- # AKs vs AQs: preflop equity AKs is a big favorite over AQs before the flop: 71.28% to 28.72% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. Before any board card is dealt, AKs holds 71.28% equity against AQs, which leaves AQs with 28.72%. ## AKs against AQs: the numbers **Exact preflop results for AKs against AQs, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | AKs | 69.163 | 4.229 | 26.608 | 71.277 | | AQs | 26.608 | 4.229 | 69.163 | 28.723 | AKs meets AQs, and both are suited hands. Sharing a rank is the signature of a dominated hand, since the weaker hand is usually out-kicked when the shared rank shows up. A lead of 42.56 points is large but not decisive: AQs still takes about 266 of every 1,000 deals. 4.23% of boards are ties, so the equity of each hand is its win rate plus half of that. AKs ranks number 8 of 169 starting hands, and AQs ranks number 10, by equity against a random hand. **Boards behind the percentages: 20,547,648 counted in all** | Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | AKs | 14,211,000 | 869,000 | 5,467,000 | | AQs | 5,467,000 | 869,000 | 14,211,000 | The total is exact: 12 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. **AKs against AQs read as odds** | Hand | Equity as odds (to 1) | Wins one deal in | Loses one deal in | Pot odds needed to call (to 1) | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | AKs | 2.482 | 1.446 | 3.758 | 0.403 | | AQs | 0.403 | 3.758 | 1.446 | 2.482 | 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 AKs prefers low rainbow flops (nine high or lower), where it holds 82.47%, and likes monotone flops least, where it holds 64.64%. 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 AQs by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | AKs wins | Ties | AQs wins | AKs equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 23.138 | 69.770 | 1.923 | 28.307 | 70.732 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 7.771 | 79.854 | 5.222 | 14.924 | 82.465 | | Two-tone | 46.543 | 69.380 | 2.459 | 28.161 | 70.609 | | Monotone | 5.215 | 62.393 | 4.485 | 33.122 | 64.635 | | Paired | 17.333 | 65.015 | 11.535 | 23.450 | 70.783 | 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 Start from the random-hand figures, 67.05% for AKs and 66.21% for AQs. This opponent changes them by +4.23 and -37.49 points. **AKs and AQs 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 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | AKs, all flops | 71.277 | 67.045 | +4.232 | 1.06312 | | AKs, rainbow, ten or higher | 70.732 | 67.045 | +3.687 | 1.05499 | | AKs, rainbow, nine or lower | 82.465 | 67.045 | +15.420 | 1.22999 | | AKs, two-tone | 70.609 | 67.045 | +3.564 | 1.05316 | | AKs, monotone | 64.635 | 67.045 | -2.410 | 0.96405 | | AKs, paired | 70.783 | 67.045 | +3.738 | 1.05575 | | AQs, all flops | 28.723 | 66.209 | -37.486 | 0.43382 | | AQs, rainbow, ten or higher | 29.268 | 66.209 | -36.941 | 0.44205 | | AQs, rainbow, nine or lower | 17.535 | 66.209 | -48.674 | 0.26484 | | AQs, two-tone | 29.391 | 66.209 | -36.818 | 0.44391 | | AQs, monotone | 35.365 | 66.209 | -30.844 | 0.53414 | | AQs, paired | 29.217 | 66.209 | -36.992 | 0.44128 | ## Does a shared suit matter? For this pair the shared-suit row is empty: the two hands cannot both own a card of one suit without reusing a card. **AKs against AQs by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | AKs wins | Ties | AQs wins | AKs equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 0 | 0.00 | not possible | not possible | not possible | not possible | | No shared suit | 12 | 100.00 | 69.163 | 4.229 | 26.608 | 71.277 | ## How often this matchup comes up Out of 1,624,350 ways to deal two seats two cards each, 12 are AKs in one seat and AQs in the other (0.0007%); with the seats swapped too, 24 (0.0015%). ## A worked example Put $100 each into a $200 pot and deal every board once: AKs averages $142.56 back, ahead of its $100 by $42.56, while AQs averages $57.44, short of its $100 by $42.56. Over a long run, 1,000 deals split into about 692 for AKs, 266 for AQs and 42 tied. ## The same matchup from the other side AQs versus AKs is this same page seen from the other hand: 28.72% for AQs, 71.28% for AKs. ## Keep exploring Try AsKs against AhQh 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 AsKs against AhQh in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=AsKs&p2=AhQh) - [AKs combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/aks.md) - [AQs combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/aqs.md) - [AKs vs AJs](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/aks-vs-ajs.md) - [AKs vs AKo](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/aks-vs-ako.md) - [77 vs AQs](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/77-vs-aqs.md) - [All hand matchups](https://georgelipoker.com/equity.md) ## How this was computed Method: exact enumeration. The 12 specific deals are grouped by suit pattern, each is run against all 1,712,304 boards, and both seven-card hands are scored. Equity adds half of every tie, and flop textures are tallied over the ten flops inside each board. Source: our own exact count from the GeorgeLiPoker poker math library. No outside data is used. ## Related - [AKs vs AJs: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/aks-vs-ajs.md) - [AKs vs AKo: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/aks-vs-ako.md) - [77 vs AQs: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/77-vs-aqs.md)