AKs
63.53%
Wins 63.27%, ties 0.52%
QJs
36.47%
Wins 36.21%, ties 0.52%
AKs against QJs: the numbers
| Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AKs | 63.266 | 0.524 | 36.210 | 63.528 |
| QJs | 36.210 | 0.524 | 63.266 | 36.472 |
Both hands are suited hands: AKs and QJs. Neither hand shares a rank with the other, so this is a contest of high cards, connection and suits.
That is a modest edge, the kind that shows up over many hands and is easy to miss in one. A split pot comes up on 0.52% of boards, so the wins and the equity differ by half of that.
Among the 169 starting hands, AKs is number 8 and QJs is number 28 by strength against a random hand.
| Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about |
|---|---|---|---|
| AKs | 17,333,000 | 144,000 | 9,920,000 |
| QJs | 9,920,000 | 144,000 | 17,333,000 |
Exact total: 16 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.
| Hand | Equity as odds (to 1) | Wins one deal in | Loses one deal in | Pot odds needed to call (to 1) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AKs | 1.742 | 1.581 | 2.762 | 0.574 |
| QJs | 0.574 | 2.762 | 1.581 | 1.742 |
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
The flop changes the picture. AKs does best on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower), at 73.91%, and worst on monotone flops, at 60.44%. AKs stays ahead on all five textures.
| Flop | Share of flops | AKs wins | Ties | QJs wins | AKs equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rainbow, ten or higher | 23.138 | 60.494 | 0.068 | 39.438 | 60.528 |
| Rainbow, nine or lower | 7.771 | 73.339 | 1.142 | 25.519 | 73.910 |
| Two-tone | 46.727 | 62.692 | 0.292 | 37.016 | 62.838 |
| Monotone | 5.273 | 58.729 | 3.423 | 37.848 | 60.440 |
| Paired | 17.091 | 65.408 | 0.600 | 33.992 | 65.708 |
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
How much does the opponent matter? Compared with its random-hand 67.05%, AKs changes by -3.52 points, and QJs, from 60.26%, by -23.79.
| Case | Equity here | Against a random hand | Change in points | Times the random-hand equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AKs, all flops | 63.528 | 67.045 | -3.517 | 0.94754 |
| AKs, rainbow, ten or higher | 60.528 | 67.045 | -6.517 | 0.90280 |
| AKs, rainbow, nine or lower | 73.910 | 67.045 | +6.865 | 1.10239 |
| AKs, two-tone | 62.838 | 67.045 | -4.207 | 0.93725 |
| AKs, monotone | 60.440 | 67.045 | -6.605 | 0.90148 |
| AKs, paired | 65.708 | 67.045 | -1.337 | 0.98006 |
| QJs, all flops | 36.472 | 60.259 | -23.787 | 0.60525 |
| QJs, rainbow, ten or higher | 39.472 | 60.259 | -20.787 | 0.65504 |
| QJs, rainbow, nine or lower | 26.090 | 60.259 | -34.169 | 0.43296 |
| QJs, two-tone | 37.162 | 60.259 | -23.097 | 0.61670 |
| QJs, monotone | 39.560 | 60.259 | -20.699 | 0.65650 |
| QJs, paired | 34.292 | 60.259 | -25.967 | 0.56908 |
Does a shared suit matter?
Looking only at deals where the hands share a suit, AKs has 65.96%; looking only at deals where they do not, 62.72%. AKs does better with a shared suit, by 3.24 points.
| Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | AKs wins | Ties | QJs wins | AKs equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Share a suit | 4 | 25.00 | 65.653 | 0.603 | 33.744 | 65.955 |
| No shared suit | 12 | 75.00 | 62.471 | 0.497 | 37.032 | 62.719 |
How often this matchup comes up
Counting specific cards, AKs against QJs appears in 16 of the 1,624,350 ordered heads-up deals (0.0010%), and in 32 when the seats are swapped too (0.0020%).
A worked example
Put $100 each into a $200 pot and deal every board once: AKs averages $127.06 back, ahead of its $100 by $27.06, while QJs averages $72.94, short of its $100 by $27.06.
Per 1,000 deals: AKs wins about 633, QJs wins about 362, and about 5 end in a split pot.
The same matchup from the other side
Read it from the other side: QJs against AKs is the same matchup with the numbers swapped, so QJs holds 36.47% and AKs holds 63.53%. That address sends you back to this page.
Keep exploring
Open the calculator with AsKs against QhJh 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.
How this was computed
Nothing here is simulated. The 16 deals of AKs against QJs 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.
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