--- title: "KQo vs 97s: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqo-vs-97s.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqo-vs-97s" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "KQo is a big favorite over 97s before the flop: 60.92% to 39.08% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqo-vs-87s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqo-vs-86s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a7s-vs-97s.md"] --- # KQo vs 97s: preflop equity KQo is a big favorite over 97s before the flop: 60.92% to 39.08% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. Counting every board, the equity split is 60.92% for KQo and 39.08% for 97s, so KQo leads by 21.84 points. ## KQo against 97s: the numbers **Exact preflop results for KQo against 97s, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | KQo | 60.600 | 0.647 | 38.753 | 60.924 | | 97s | 38.753 | 0.647 | 60.600 | 39.076 | KQo, an offsuit hand, plays 97s, a suited hand. Neither hand shares a rank with the other, so this is a contest of high cards, connection and suits. The lead is steady rather than large, and the flop still has plenty of say in who wins. About 0.65% of boards chop the pot, which is why equity sits slightly above the win figure for both hands. Among the 169 starting hands, KQo is number 23 and 97s is number 94 by strength against a random hand. **Boards behind the percentages: 82,190,592 counted in all** | Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | KQo | 49,807,000 | 532,000 | 31,851,000 | | 97s | 31,851,000 | 532,000 | 49,807,000 | 48 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. **KQo 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) | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | KQo | 1.559 | 1.650 | 2.580 | 0.641 | | 97s | 0.641 | 2.580 | 1.650 | 1.559 | 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 By flop texture, KQo's equity runs from 36.97% on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower) up to 68.81% on rainbow flops topped by a ten or better. The lead reverses on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower): there 97s is the favorite even though KQo is ahead overall. **KQo against 97s by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | KQo wins | Ties | 97s wins | KQo equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 24.717 | 68.660 | 0.303 | 31.037 | 68.811 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 6.313 | 36.641 | 0.661 | 62.698 | 36.972 | | Two-tone | 46.667 | 59.288 | 0.354 | 40.358 | 59.465 | | Monotone | 5.212 | 57.867 | 2.444 | 39.689 | 59.089 | | Paired | 17.091 | 62.211 | 1.395 | 36.394 | 62.909 | 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, 61.46% for KQo and 49.12% for 97s. This opponent changes them by -0.54 and -10.04 points. **KQo 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 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | KQo, all flops | 60.924 | 61.456 | -0.532 | 0.99134 | | KQo, rainbow, ten or higher | 68.811 | 61.456 | +7.355 | 1.11968 | | KQo, rainbow, nine or lower | 36.972 | 61.456 | -24.484 | 0.60160 | | KQo, two-tone | 59.465 | 61.456 | -1.991 | 0.96760 | | KQo, monotone | 59.089 | 61.456 | -2.367 | 0.96148 | | KQo, paired | 62.909 | 61.456 | +1.453 | 1.02364 | | 97s, all flops | 39.076 | 49.118 | -10.042 | 0.79555 | | 97s, rainbow, ten or higher | 31.189 | 49.118 | -17.929 | 0.63498 | | 97s, rainbow, nine or lower | 63.028 | 49.118 | +13.910 | 1.28320 | | 97s, two-tone | 40.535 | 49.118 | -8.583 | 0.82526 | | 97s, monotone | 40.911 | 49.118 | -8.207 | 0.83291 | | 97s, paired | 37.091 | 49.118 | -12.027 | 0.75514 | ## Does a shared suit matter? The suit split reads 61.64% for KQo with a shared suit and 60.21% without one. KQo does better with a shared suit, by 1.43 points. **KQo against 97s by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | KQo wins | Ties | 97s wins | KQo equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 24 | 50.00 | 61.295 | 0.689 | 38.016 | 61.640 | | No shared suit | 24 | 50.00 | 59.905 | 0.606 | 39.489 | 60.208 | ## How often this matchup comes up Out of 1,624,350 ways to deal two seats two cards each, 48 are KQo in one seat and 97s in the other (0.0030%); with the seats swapped too, 96 (0.0059%). ## A worked example Try it with money: two players each put in $100 and the whole board runs out every possible way. KQo averages $121.84 from the $200, up $21.84; 97s averages $78.16, down $21.84. Scaled to 1,000 deals, that is roughly 606 wins for KQo, 388 for 97s and 6 chopped pots. ## The same matchup from the other side Read it from the other side: 97s against KQo is the same matchup with the numbers swapped, so 97s holds 39.08% and KQo holds 60.92%. That address sends you back to this page. ## Keep exploring Try KsQh against 9d7d 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 KsQh against 9d7d in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=KsQh&p2=9d7d) - [KQo combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/kqo.md) - [97s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/97s.md) - [KQo vs 87s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqo-vs-87s.md) - [KQo vs 86s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqo-vs-86s.md) - [A7s vs 97s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a7s-vs-97s.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 48 specific deals of KQo against 97s, 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 - [KQo vs 87s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqo-vs-87s.md) - [KQo vs 86s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqo-vs-86s.md) - [A7s vs 97s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a7s-vs-97s.md)