KQs
43.01%
Wins 42.77%, ties 0.49%
A6s
56.99%
Wins 56.74%, ties 0.49%
KQs against A6s: the numbers
| Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| KQs | 42.768 | 0.491 | 56.741 | 43.014 |
| A6s | 56.741 | 0.491 | 42.768 | 56.986 |
Each side holds one of the suited hands: KQs and A6s. The two hands share no rank, which makes this a pure matchup of card strength, straight chances and flush chances.
A6s is ahead, but KQs is far from dead: it takes 428 of every 1,000 deals outright. Ties are part of the picture: 0.49% of boards end in a split pot, and each side counts that as half a win.
KQs ranks number 16 of 169 starting hands, and A6s ranks number 31, by equity against a random hand.
| Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about |
|---|---|---|---|
| KQs | 11,717,000 | 135,000 | 15,545,000 |
| A6s | 15,545,000 | 135,000 | 11,717,000 |
The total is exact: 16 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.
| Hand | Equity as odds (to 1) | Wins one deal in | Loses one deal in | Pot odds needed to call (to 1) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| KQs | 0.755 | 2.338 | 1.762 | 1.325 |
| A6s | 1.325 | 1.762 | 2.338 | 0.755 |
In the last column, a pot-to-call ratio at or above the figure makes a call break even or better at this equity.
Who is ahead on which flops
Break the boards down by their first three cards and A6s is strongest on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower) (75.12%) and weakest on rainbow flops topped by a ten or better (50.74%). A6s stays ahead on all five textures, but the swing between them is large, so how the flop looks matters a great deal.
| Flop | Share of flops | KQs wins | Ties | A6s wins | KQs equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rainbow, ten or higher | 23.867 | 49.220 | 0.076 | 50.704 | 49.258 |
| Rainbow, nine or lower | 7.042 | 24.389 | 0.982 | 74.629 | 24.880 |
| Two-tone | 46.727 | 44.079 | 0.252 | 55.669 | 44.205 |
| Monotone | 5.273 | 43.888 | 3.407 | 52.705 | 45.591 |
| Paired | 17.091 | 37.403 | 0.620 | 61.977 | 37.713 |
A rainbow flop shows three suits, a two-tone flop repeats one suit, a monotone flop is a single suit, and a paired flop repeats a rank.
Compared with a random hand
A random hand would give KQs 63.40% and A6s 59.91%. Against each other the change is -20.39 points for KQs and -2.92 for A6s.
| Case | Equity here | Against a random hand | Change in points | Times the random-hand equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| KQs, all flops | 43.014 | 63.400 | -20.386 | 0.67845 |
| KQs, rainbow, ten or higher | 49.258 | 63.400 | -14.142 | 0.77694 |
| KQs, rainbow, nine or lower | 24.880 | 63.400 | -38.520 | 0.39243 |
| KQs, two-tone | 44.205 | 63.400 | -19.195 | 0.69724 |
| KQs, monotone | 45.591 | 63.400 | -17.809 | 0.71910 |
| KQs, paired | 37.713 | 63.400 | -25.687 | 0.59484 |
| A6s, all flops | 56.986 | 59.906 | -2.920 | 0.95126 |
| A6s, rainbow, ten or higher | 50.742 | 59.906 | -9.164 | 0.84703 |
| A6s, rainbow, nine or lower | 75.120 | 59.906 | +15.214 | 1.25396 |
| A6s, two-tone | 55.795 | 59.906 | -4.111 | 0.93138 |
| A6s, monotone | 54.409 | 59.906 | -5.497 | 0.90824 |
| A6s, paired | 62.287 | 59.906 | +2.381 | 1.03975 |
Does a shared suit matter?
Looking only at deals where the hands share a suit, A6s has 58.88%; looking only at deals where they do not, 56.36%. A6s does better with a shared suit, by 2.52 points.
| Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | KQs wins | Ties | A6s wins | KQs equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Share a suit | 4 | 25.00 | 40.837 | 0.569 | 58.594 | 41.121 |
| No shared suit | 12 | 75.00 | 43.412 | 0.465 | 56.123 | 43.644 |
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 A6s in the other (0.0010%); with the seats swapped too, 32 (0.0020%).
A worked example
Say each player puts $100 in before the flop, making a $200 pot. On average A6s takes back $113.98 of it, which is $13.98 more than it put in, and KQs takes back $86.02, $13.98 less than it put in.
Out of 1,000 deals you should see around 567 outright wins for A6s, 428 for KQs, and 5 split pots.
The same matchup from the other side
One page covers both views. From A6s' side the equity is 56.99%, and from KQs' side it is 43.01%.
Keep exploring
The calculator link fills in KsQs against Ah6h, 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
Method: exact enumeration. The 16 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.
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