--- title: "KQs vs 22: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqs-vs-22.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqs-vs-22" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "KQs vs 22 is close to a coin flip before the flop: 51.26% to 48.74% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqs-vs-97s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqs-vs-87s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/66-vs-22.md"] --- # KQs vs 22: preflop equity KQs vs 22 is close to a coin flip before the flop: 51.26% to 48.74% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. If KQs and 22 get all the chips in before the flop, KQs owns 51.26% of the pot in the long run and 22 owns 48.74%. ## KQs against 22: the numbers **Exact preflop results for KQs against 22, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | KQs | 50.801 | 0.914 | 48.285 | 51.258 | | 22 | 48.285 | 0.914 | 50.801 | 48.742 | One side is a suited hand, the other is a pocket pair. This is a pair against two overcards, a matchup that stays close because the other hand only needs one of its ranks to appear. That is a slim edge: neither hand is far ahead. Split pots make up 0.91% of the boards, and both equity figures count them as half a win each. KQs ranks number 16 of 169 starting hands, and 22 ranks number 87, by equity against a random hand. **Boards behind the percentages: 41,095,296 counted in all** | Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | KQs | 20,877,000 | 376,000 | 19,843,000 | | 22 | 19,843,000 | 376,000 | 20,877,000 | 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. **KQs against 22 read as odds** | Hand | Equity as odds (to 1) | Wins one deal in | Loses one deal in | Pot odds needed to call (to 1) | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | KQs | 1.052 | 1.968 | 2.071 | 0.951 | | 22 | 0.951 | 2.071 | 1.968 | 1.052 | The final column gives the least the pot must offer for each unit called for a call to break even at this equity. ## Who is ahead on which flops Split by what the flop looks like, KQs peaks at 56.56% on rainbow flops topped by a ten or better and bottoms out at 24.28% on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower). On low rainbow flops (nine high or lower) the numbers flip and 22 is the one ahead. **KQs against 22 by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | KQs wins | Ties | 22 wins | KQs equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 24.595 | 56.381 | 0.351 | 43.268 | 56.557 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 6.314 | 23.589 | 1.388 | 75.023 | 24.283 | | Two-tone | 46.545 | 51.780 | 0.520 | 47.700 | 52.040 | | Monotone | 5.212 | 49.065 | 3.854 | 47.081 | 50.992 | | Paired | 17.334 | 50.691 | 1.713 | 47.596 | 51.547 | 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 Relative to a random opponent, KQs changes by -12.14 points (baseline 63.40%) and 22 by -1.59 points (baseline 50.33%). **KQs and 22 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 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | KQs, all flops | 51.258 | 63.400 | -12.142 | 0.80849 | | KQs, rainbow, ten or higher | 56.557 | 63.400 | -6.843 | 0.89207 | | KQs, rainbow, nine or lower | 24.283 | 63.400 | -39.117 | 0.38301 | | KQs, two-tone | 52.040 | 63.400 | -11.360 | 0.82082 | | KQs, monotone | 50.992 | 63.400 | -12.408 | 0.80429 | | KQs, paired | 51.547 | 63.400 | -11.853 | 0.81304 | | 22, all flops | 48.742 | 50.334 | -1.592 | 0.96837 | | 22, rainbow, ten or higher | 43.443 | 50.334 | -6.891 | 0.86309 | | 22, rainbow, nine or lower | 75.717 | 50.334 | +25.383 | 1.50429 | | 22, two-tone | 47.960 | 50.334 | -2.374 | 0.95284 | | 22, monotone | 49.008 | 50.334 | -1.326 | 0.97366 | | 22, paired | 48.453 | 50.334 | -1.881 | 0.96263 | ## Does a shared suit matter? Two kinds of deal exist here. In 12 of them the hands share a suit and KQs holds 51.08%. In 12 they do not, and it holds 51.44%. KQs does better with no shared suit, by 0.36 points. **KQs against 22 by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | KQs wins | Ties | 22 wins | KQs equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 12 | 50.00 | 50.611 | 0.934 | 48.455 | 51.078 | | No shared suit | 12 | 50.00 | 50.992 | 0.893 | 48.115 | 51.439 | ## How often this matchup comes up You will meet this exact matchup 0.0030% of the time in a random heads-up deal: 48 of 1,624,350, counting either seat order. ## A worked example To see what the equity is worth, imagine $100 each in a $200 pot. KQs is worth $102.52 on average (+$2.52); 22 is worth $97.48 (-$2.52). Think in thousands: about 508 of 1,000 go to KQs, about 483 go to 22, and about 9 are chopped. ## The same matchup from the other side If you came looking for 22 against KQs, the numbers are the same with the hands swapped: 48.74% and 51.26%. ## Keep exploring Open the calculator with KsQs against 2h2d 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. - [Open KsQs against 2h2d in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=KsQs&p2=2h2d) - [KQs combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/kqs.md) - [22 combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/22.md) - [KQs vs 97s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqs-vs-97s.md) - [KQs vs 87s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqs-vs-87s.md) - [66 vs 22](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/66-vs-22.md) - [All hand matchups](https://georgelipoker.com/equity.md) ## How this was computed Method: exact enumeration. The 24 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 - [KQs vs 97s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqs-vs-97s.md) - [KQs vs 87s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqs-vs-87s.md) - [66 vs 22: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/66-vs-22.md)