KQs
62.86%
Wins 62.51%, ties 0.69%
98s
37.14%
Wins 36.80%, ties 0.69%
KQs against 98s: the numbers
| Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| KQs | 62.513 | 0.691 | 36.796 | 62.859 |
| 98s | 36.796 | 0.691 | 62.513 | 37.141 |
This is a contest between two suited hands, KQs and 98s. Neither hand shares a rank with the other, so this is a contest of high cards, connection and suits.
A 25.72 point lead is real, and 98s still takes about 368 of every 1,000 deals outright. Ties are 0.69% of the outcomes here; each tied board gives both hands half the pot.
By strength against a random hand, KQs holds place 16 of 169 and 98s holds place 83.
| Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about |
|---|---|---|---|
| KQs | 17,127,000 | 189,000 | 10,081,000 |
| 98s | 10,081,000 | 189,000 | 17,127,000 |
The board total is exact, 16 deals at 1,712,304 boards each. Won, tied and lost counts are rounded to the nearest thousand from the five-decimal percentages.
| Hand | Equity as odds (to 1) | Wins one deal in | Loses one deal in | Pot odds needed to call (to 1) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| KQs | 1.692 | 1.600 | 2.718 | 0.591 |
| 98s | 0.591 | 2.718 | 1.600 | 1.692 |
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 KQs is strongest on rainbow flops topped by a ten or better (69.08%) and weakest on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower) (40.43%). KQs is the favorite overall but falls behind on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower).
| Flop | Share of flops | KQs wins | Ties | 98s wins | KQs equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rainbow, ten or higher | 24.595 | 68.934 | 0.293 | 30.773 | 69.081 |
| Rainbow, nine or lower | 6.314 | 40.072 | 0.710 | 59.218 | 40.427 |
| Two-tone | 46.727 | 62.111 | 0.342 | 37.547 | 62.282 |
| Monotone | 5.273 | 58.379 | 3.466 | 38.155 | 60.112 |
| Paired | 17.091 | 63.938 | 1.353 | 34.709 | 64.615 |
Rainbow flops have three suits, two-tone flops repeat one suit, monotone flops are all one suit, and paired flops repeat a rank.
Compared with a random hand
The table below sets each hand against its own random-hand baseline: a change of -0.54 points for KQs, from 63.40%, and -13.66 for 98s, from 50.80%.
| Case | Equity here | Against a random hand | Change in points | Times the random-hand equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| KQs, all flops | 62.859 | 63.400 | -0.541 | 0.99147 |
| KQs, rainbow, ten or higher | 69.081 | 63.400 | +5.681 | 1.08961 |
| KQs, rainbow, nine or lower | 40.427 | 63.400 | -22.973 | 0.63765 |
| KQs, two-tone | 62.282 | 63.400 | -1.118 | 0.98237 |
| KQs, monotone | 60.112 | 63.400 | -3.288 | 0.94814 |
| KQs, paired | 64.615 | 63.400 | +1.215 | 1.01916 |
| 98s, all flops | 37.141 | 50.801 | -13.660 | 0.73111 |
| 98s, rainbow, ten or higher | 30.919 | 50.801 | -19.882 | 0.60863 |
| 98s, rainbow, nine or lower | 59.573 | 50.801 | +8.772 | 1.17267 |
| 98s, two-tone | 37.718 | 50.801 | -13.083 | 0.74247 |
| 98s, monotone | 39.888 | 50.801 | -10.913 | 0.78518 |
| 98s, paired | 35.385 | 50.801 | -15.416 | 0.69654 |
Does a shared suit matter?
Suit overlap shows up in the numbers. With a suit in common KQs has 65.16% equity, and with none in common it has 62.09%. KQs does better with a shared suit, by 3.07 points.
| Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | KQs wins | Ties | 98s wins | KQs equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Share a suit | 4 | 25.00 | 64.772 | 0.779 | 34.449 | 65.161 |
| No shared suit | 12 | 75.00 | 61.760 | 0.662 | 37.578 | 62.091 |
How often this matchup comes up
Counting specific cards, KQs against 98s appears in 16 of the 1,624,350 ordered heads-up deals (0.0010%), and in 32 when the seats are swapped too (0.0020%).
A worked example
Try it with money: two players each put in $100 and the whole board runs out every possible way. KQs averages $125.72 from the $200, up $25.72; 98s averages $74.28, down $25.72.
Run 1,000 deals and the tally comes out near 625 for KQs, 368 for 98s and 7 ties.
The same matchup from the other side
If you came looking for 98s against KQs, the numbers are the same with the hands swapped: 37.14% and 62.86%.
Keep exploring
The calculator link fills in KsQs against 9h8h, 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.
How this was computed
We counted every case. Each suit pattern of the 16 specific KQs against 98s deals meets all 1,712,304 boards, and the better five-card hand wins; a split pot is half a win each. The flop table reads each board under all ten of its three-card flops.
Source: our own exact count from the GeorgeLiPoker poker math library. No outside data is used.
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