--- title: "KQs vs 55: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqs-vs-55.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqs-vs-55" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "KQs vs 55 is close to a coin flip before the flop: 49.48% to 50.52% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqs-vs-qjs.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqs-vs-k9s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/66-vs-55.md"] --- # KQs vs 55: preflop equity KQs vs 55 is close to a coin flip before the flop: 49.48% to 50.52% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. Over all 1,712,304 boards that can follow this deal, 55 finishes with 50.52% of the pot and KQs with 49.48%. ## KQs against 55: the numbers **Exact preflop results for KQs against 55, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | KQs | 49.194 | 0.576 | 50.230 | 49.482 | | 55 | 50.230 | 0.576 | 49.194 | 50.518 | KQs is a suited hand and 55 is a pocket pair. One hand holds a pair and the other holds two cards that both outrank it, which keeps the equity closer than most people expect. With only 1.04 points between them, the board decides this matchup far more than the cards in hand. A split pot comes up on 0.58% of boards, so the wins and the equity differ by half of that. For context, KQs sits at number 16 of 169 starting hands and 55 at number 27 when each is run 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 | 20,216,000 | 237,000 | 20,642,000 | | 55 | 20,642,000 | 237,000 | 20,216,000 | The total is exact: 24 specific deals times 1,712,304 boards. The three counts are approximate, worked out from the percentages to five decimals and rounded to the nearest thousand. **KQs against 55 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 | 0.979 | 2.033 | 1.991 | 1.021 | | 55 | 1.021 | 1.991 | 2.033 | 0.979 | The last column is the smallest pot odds, written as a pot-to-call ratio, at which a call breaks even with this equity. ## Who is ahead on which flops The flop changes the picture. 55 does best on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower), at 78.07%, and worst on rainbow flops topped by a ten or better, at 44.21%. KQs takes over on rainbow flops topped by a ten or better and two-tone flops, so the favorite before the flop is the underdog on those boards. **KQs against 55 by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | KQs wins | Ties | 55 wins | KQs equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 24.595 | 55.663 | 0.246 | 44.091 | 55.786 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 6.314 | 21.493 | 0.880 | 77.627 | 21.933 | | Two-tone | 46.545 | 50.828 | 0.349 | 48.823 | 51.003 | | Monotone | 5.212 | 48.299 | 2.637 | 49.064 | 49.617 | | Paired | 17.334 | 45.988 | 0.922 | 53.090 | 46.449 | 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, 63.40% for KQs and 60.33% for 55. This opponent changes them by -13.92 and -9.81 points. **KQs and 55 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 | 49.482 | 63.400 | -13.918 | 0.78047 | | KQs, rainbow, ten or higher | 55.786 | 63.400 | -7.614 | 0.87991 | | KQs, rainbow, nine or lower | 21.933 | 63.400 | -41.467 | 0.34595 | | KQs, two-tone | 51.003 | 63.400 | -12.397 | 0.80446 | | KQs, monotone | 49.617 | 63.400 | -13.783 | 0.78260 | | KQs, paired | 46.449 | 63.400 | -16.951 | 0.73263 | | 55, all flops | 50.518 | 60.325 | -9.807 | 0.83743 | | 55, rainbow, ten or higher | 44.214 | 60.325 | -16.111 | 0.73293 | | 55, rainbow, nine or lower | 78.067 | 60.325 | +17.742 | 1.29411 | | 55, two-tone | 48.997 | 60.325 | -11.328 | 0.81222 | | 55, monotone | 50.383 | 60.325 | -9.942 | 0.83519 | | 55, paired | 53.551 | 60.325 | -6.774 | 0.88771 | ## Does a shared suit matter? Of the deals of this matchup, 12 share a suit (55 at 50.69%) and 12 do not (50.34%). 55 does better with a shared suit, by 0.35 points. **KQs against 55 by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | KQs wins | Ties | 55 wins | KQs equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 12 | 50.00 | 48.998 | 0.619 | 50.383 | 49.307 | | No shared suit | 12 | 50.00 | 49.391 | 0.533 | 50.076 | 49.657 | ## 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 With $100 from each side, the $200 pot is split on average as $101.04 for 55 and $98.96 for KQs; the first side gains $1.04 per all-in and the second gives up $1.04. Scaled to 1,000 deals, that is roughly 502 wins for 55, 492 for KQs and 6 chopped pots. ## The same matchup from the other side If you came looking for 55 against KQs, the numbers are the same with the hands swapped: 50.52% and 49.48%. ## Keep exploring The calculator link fills in KsQs against 5h5d, 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 KsQs against 5h5d in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=KsQs&p2=5h5d) - [KQs combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/kqs.md) - [55 combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/55.md) - [KQs vs QJs](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqs-vs-qjs.md) - [KQs vs K9s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqs-vs-k9s.md) - [66 vs 55](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/66-vs-55.md) - [All hand matchups](https://georgelipoker.com/equity.md) ## How this was computed This is an exact count with no sampling. For the 24 ways to deal one KQs and one 55 without reusing a card, grouped by suit pattern, every one of the 1,712,304 possible boards is dealt and both seven-card hands are compared. A tie counts as half a win in the equity column, and each board is counted once under each of its ten three-card flops. Source: our own exact count from the GeorgeLiPoker poker math library. No outside data is used. ## Related - [KQs vs QJs: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqs-vs-qjs.md) - [KQs vs K9s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqs-vs-k9s.md) - [66 vs 55: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/66-vs-55.md)