--- title: "KQs vs 43s: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqs-vs-43s.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqs-vs-43s" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "KQs is a big favorite over 43s before the flop: 63.23% to 36.77% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/66-vs-43s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqs-vs-53s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/ajo-vs-43s.md"] --- # KQs vs 43s: preflop equity KQs is a big favorite over 43s before the flop: 63.23% to 36.77% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. Before any board card is dealt, KQs holds 63.23% equity against 43s, which leaves 43s with 36.77%. ## KQs against 43s: the numbers **Exact preflop results for KQs against 43s, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | KQs | 62.846 | 0.774 | 36.380 | 63.233 | | 43s | 36.380 | 0.774 | 62.846 | 36.767 | Both hands are suited hands: KQs and 43s. The two hands share no rank, which makes this a pure matchup of card strength, straight chances and flush chances. The lead is steady rather than large, and the flop still has plenty of say in who wins. The tie share is 0.77%: on those boards the pot is chopped and neither hand wins outright. The hand ranking puts KQs at 16 and 43s at 150 out of 169 starting hands. **Boards behind the percentages: 27,396,864 counted in all** | Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | KQs | 17,218,000 | 212,000 | 9,967,000 | | 43s | 9,967,000 | 212,000 | 17,218,000 | 16 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 43s 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 | 1.720 | 1.591 | 2.749 | 0.581 | | 43s | 0.581 | 2.749 | 1.591 | 1.720 | 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 Across the five flop textures KQs' equity moves by 32.01 points, from 37.98% on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower) to 69.99% on rainbow flops topped by a ten or better. 43s is ahead on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower), even though it trails KQs when every flop is counted. **KQs against 43s by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | KQs wins | Ties | 43s wins | KQs equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 24.595 | 69.843 | 0.299 | 29.858 | 69.992 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 6.314 | 37.414 | 1.141 | 61.445 | 37.984 | | Two-tone | 46.727 | 62.292 | 0.426 | 37.282 | 62.505 | | Monotone | 5.273 | 58.544 | 3.720 | 37.736 | 60.404 | | Paired | 17.091 | 65.013 | 1.368 | 33.619 | 65.697 | Flop types: rainbow means three different suits, two-tone means one suit twice, monotone means one suit three times, paired means a repeated rank. ## Compared with a random hand How much does the opponent matter? Compared with its random-hand 63.40%, KQs changes by -0.17 points, and 43s, from 38.64%, by -1.87. **KQs and 43s 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 | 63.233 | 63.400 | -0.167 | 0.99737 | | KQs, rainbow, ten or higher | 69.992 | 63.400 | +6.592 | 1.10397 | | KQs, rainbow, nine or lower | 37.984 | 63.400 | -25.416 | 0.59912 | | KQs, two-tone | 62.505 | 63.400 | -0.895 | 0.98588 | | KQs, monotone | 60.404 | 63.400 | -2.996 | 0.95274 | | KQs, paired | 65.697 | 63.400 | +2.297 | 1.03623 | | 43s, all flops | 36.767 | 38.642 | -1.875 | 0.95148 | | 43s, rainbow, ten or higher | 30.008 | 38.642 | -8.634 | 0.77656 | | 43s, rainbow, nine or lower | 62.016 | 38.642 | +23.374 | 1.60489 | | 43s, two-tone | 37.495 | 38.642 | -1.147 | 0.97032 | | 43s, monotone | 39.596 | 38.642 | +0.954 | 1.02469 | | 43s, paired | 34.303 | 38.642 | -4.339 | 0.88771 | ## Does a shared suit matter? Two kinds of deal exist here. In 4 of them the hands share a suit and KQs holds 65.56%. In 12 they do not, and it holds 62.46%. KQs does better with a shared suit, by 3.10 points. **KQs against 43s by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | KQs wins | Ties | 43s wins | KQs equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 4 | 25.00 | 65.126 | 0.862 | 34.012 | 65.557 | | No shared suit | 12 | 75.00 | 62.086 | 0.745 | 37.169 | 62.459 | ## How often this matchup comes up Out of 1,624,350 ways to deal two seats two cards each, 16 are KQs in one seat and 43s in the other (0.0010%); with the seats swapped too, 32 (0.0020%). ## A worked example Worked example: both players commit $100, so $200 sits in the middle. Over every board, KQs' average share is $126.46 (a gain of $26.46) and 43s' is $73.54 (a loss of $26.46). In 1,000 deals of exactly this matchup, expect about 628 won outright by KQs, about 364 won outright by 43s and about 8 split. ## The same matchup from the other side If you came looking for 43s against KQs, the numbers are the same with the hands swapped: 36.77% and 63.23%. ## Keep exploring KsQs against 4h3h is a ready-made deal for the calculator, with no suit in common between the hands. The neighboring matchups below replace one hand with another of similar strength. - [Open KsQs against 4h3h in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=KsQs&p2=4h3h) - [KQs combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/kqs.md) - [43s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/43s.md) - [66 vs 43s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/66-vs-43s.md) - [KQs vs 53s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqs-vs-53s.md) - [AJo vs 43s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/ajo-vs-43s.md) - [All hand matchups](https://georgelipoker.com/equity.md) ## How this was computed The page is built from a full enumeration: 1,712,304 boards, every suit pattern of the 16 specific deals, both seven-card hands evaluated. A tie is worth half a win to each hand, and a board is tallied under each of its ten possible flops for the texture rows. Source: our own exact count from the GeorgeLiPoker poker math library. No outside data is used. ## Related - [66 vs 43s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/66-vs-43s.md) - [KQs vs 53s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqs-vs-53s.md) - [AJo vs 43s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/ajo-vs-43s.md)