--- title: "KK vs 97s: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kk-vs-97s.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kk-vs-97s" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "KK is a big favorite over 97s before the flop: 79.06% to 20.94% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kk-vs-87s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kk-vs-86s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/qq-vs-97s.md"] --- # KK vs 97s: preflop equity KK is a big favorite over 97s before the flop: 79.06% to 20.94% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. Counting every board, the equity split is 79.06% for KK and 20.94% for 97s, so KK leads by 58.12 points. ## KK against 97s: the numbers **Exact preflop results for KK against 97s, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | KK | 78.876 | 0.366 | 20.758 | 79.059 | | 97s | 20.758 | 0.366 | 78.876 | 20.941 | We compare a pocket pair with a suited hand. A pair against two lower cards is a lopsided matchup: the pair is ahead and the other hand has no overcard to catch. A lead of 58.12 points is large but not decisive: 97s still takes about 207 of every 1,000 deals. Ties are 0.37% of the outcomes here; each tied board gives both hands half the pot. Ranked by equity against a random hand, KK is number 2 of the 169 starting hands and 97s is number 94. **Boards behind the percentages: 41,095,296 counted in all** | Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | KK | 32,414,000 | 150,000 | 8,531,000 | | 97s | 8,531,000 | 150,000 | 32,414,000 | 24 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. **KK against 97s read as odds** | Hand | Equity as odds (to 1) | Wins one deal in | Loses one deal in | Pot odds needed to call (to 1) | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | KK | 3.775 | 1.268 | 4.817 | 0.265 | | 97s | 0.265 | 4.817 | 1.268 | 3.775 | 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 Break the boards down by their first three cards and KK is strongest on paired flops (83.09%) and weakest on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower) (71.20%). KK stays ahead on all five textures. **KK against 97s by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | KK wins | Ties | 97s wins | KK equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 24.595 | 82.901 | 0.204 | 16.895 | 83.003 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 6.314 | 70.857 | 0.678 | 28.465 | 71.196 | | Two-tone | 46.545 | 76.994 | 0.284 | 22.722 | 77.136 | | Monotone | 5.212 | 72.551 | 2.391 | 25.058 | 73.746 | | Paired | 17.334 | 83.041 | 0.092 | 16.867 | 83.087 | 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 The table below sets each hand against its own random-hand baseline: a change of -3.34 points for KK, from 82.40%, and -28.18 for 97s, from 49.12%. **KK and 97s 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 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | KK, all flops | 79.059 | 82.396 | -3.337 | 0.95950 | | KK, rainbow, ten or higher | 83.003 | 82.396 | +0.607 | 1.00737 | | KK, rainbow, nine or lower | 71.196 | 82.396 | -11.200 | 0.86407 | | KK, two-tone | 77.136 | 82.396 | -5.260 | 0.93616 | | KK, monotone | 73.746 | 82.396 | -8.650 | 0.89502 | | KK, paired | 83.087 | 82.396 | +0.691 | 1.00839 | | 97s, all flops | 20.941 | 49.118 | -28.177 | 0.42634 | | 97s, rainbow, ten or higher | 16.997 | 49.118 | -32.121 | 0.34604 | | 97s, rainbow, nine or lower | 28.804 | 49.118 | -20.314 | 0.58642 | | 97s, two-tone | 22.864 | 49.118 | -26.254 | 0.46549 | | 97s, monotone | 26.254 | 49.118 | -22.864 | 0.53451 | | 97s, paired | 16.913 | 49.118 | -32.205 | 0.34433 | ## Does a shared suit matter? Does suit overlap move the numbers? KK has 79.64% when the hands share a suit and 78.48% when they do not. KK does better with a shared suit, by 1.16 points. **KK against 97s by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | KK wins | Ties | 97s wins | KK equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 12 | 50.00 | 79.431 | 0.407 | 20.162 | 79.635 | | No shared suit | 12 | 50.00 | 78.321 | 0.324 | 21.355 | 78.483 | ## 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 Put $100 each into a $200 pot and deal every board once: KK averages $158.12 back, ahead of its $100 by $58.12, while 97s averages $41.88, short of its $100 by $58.12. Run 1,000 deals and the tally comes out near 789 for KK, 207 for 97s and 4 ties. ## The same matchup from the other side One page covers both views. From 97s' side the equity is 20.94%, and from KK's side it is 79.06%. ## Keep exploring The calculator link fills in KsKh against 9d7d, 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. - [Open KsKh against 9d7d in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=KsKh&p2=9d7d) - [KK combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/kk.md) - [97s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/97s.md) - [KK vs 87s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kk-vs-87s.md) - [KK vs 86s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kk-vs-86s.md) - [QQ vs 97s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/qq-vs-97s.md) - [All hand matchups](https://georgelipoker.com/equity.md) ## How this was computed Nothing here is simulated. The 24 deals of KK against 97s 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 - [KK vs 87s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kk-vs-87s.md) - [KK vs 86s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kk-vs-86s.md) - [QQ vs 97s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/qq-vs-97s.md)