--- title: "KQs vs K9s: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqs-vs-k9s.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqs-vs-k9s" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "KQs is a big favorite over K9s before the flop: 70.68% to 29.32% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqs-vs-a5s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqs-vs-a6s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/66-vs-k9s.md"] --- # KQs vs K9s: preflop equity KQs is a big favorite over K9s before the flop: 70.68% to 29.32% 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, KQs finishes with 70.68% of the pot and K9s with 29.32%. ## KQs against K9s: the numbers **Exact preflop results for KQs against K9s, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | KQs | 68.084 | 5.194 | 26.722 | 70.681 | | K9s | 26.722 | 5.194 | 68.084 | 29.319 | KQs and K9s are both suited hands. The two hands share a rank, and the one with the better other card dominates: it wins most kicker battles when that shared rank hits. KQs is well ahead, and K9s needs a specific kind of board to catch up. A split pot comes up on 5.19% 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 K9s at number 29 when each is run against a random hand. **Boards behind the percentages: 20,547,648 counted in all** | Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | KQs | 13,990,000 | 1,067,000 | 5,491,000 | | K9s | 5,491,000 | 1,067,000 | 13,990,000 | 12 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 K9s 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 | 2.411 | 1.469 | 3.742 | 0.415 | | K9s | 0.415 | 3.742 | 1.469 | 2.411 | 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 KQs prefers rainbow flops topped by a ten or better, where it holds 76.79%, and likes low rainbow flops (nine high or lower) least, where it holds 60.54%. KQs stays ahead on all five textures, but the swing between them is large, so how the flop looks matters a great deal. **KQs against K9s by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | KQs wins | Ties | K9s wins | KQs equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 23.867 | 74.984 | 3.620 | 21.396 | 76.794 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 7.042 | 59.152 | 2.777 | 38.071 | 60.540 | | Two-tone | 46.543 | 68.538 | 3.134 | 28.328 | 70.105 | | Monotone | 5.215 | 61.722 | 5.149 | 33.129 | 64.297 | | Paired | 17.333 | 62.909 | 13.888 | 23.203 | 69.853 | 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 Relative to a random opponent, KQs changes by +7.28 points (baseline 63.40%) and K9s by -30.67 points (baseline 59.99%). **KQs and K9s 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 | 70.681 | 63.400 | +7.281 | 1.11484 | | KQs, rainbow, ten or higher | 76.794 | 63.400 | +13.394 | 1.21126 | | KQs, rainbow, nine or lower | 60.540 | 63.400 | -2.860 | 0.95489 | | KQs, two-tone | 70.105 | 63.400 | +6.705 | 1.10576 | | KQs, monotone | 64.297 | 63.400 | +0.897 | 1.01415 | | KQs, paired | 69.853 | 63.400 | +6.453 | 1.10178 | | K9s, all flops | 29.319 | 59.988 | -30.669 | 0.48875 | | K9s, rainbow, ten or higher | 23.206 | 59.988 | -36.782 | 0.38684 | | K9s, rainbow, nine or lower | 39.460 | 59.988 | -20.528 | 0.65780 | | K9s, two-tone | 29.895 | 59.988 | -30.093 | 0.49835 | | K9s, monotone | 35.703 | 59.988 | -24.285 | 0.59517 | | K9s, paired | 30.147 | 59.988 | -29.841 | 0.50255 | ## Does a shared suit matter? The hands cannot hold a suit in common here, which leaves a single case and a single number: 70.68% for KQs. **KQs against K9s by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | KQs wins | Ties | K9s wins | KQs equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 0 | 0.00 | not possible | not possible | not possible | not possible | | No shared suit | 12 | 100.00 | 68.084 | 5.194 | 26.722 | 70.681 | ## How often this matchup comes up KQs against K9s is made up of 12 specific-card matchups in one seat order, 0.0007% of the 1,624,350 ordered deals, and 24 counting both seat orders, 0.0015%. ## A worked example A $100 all-in from each player makes a $200 pot, and the exact equity says KQs gets $141.36 of it on average and K9s gets $58.64. Over a long run, 1,000 deals split into about 681 for KQs, 267 for K9s and 52 tied. ## The same matchup from the other side One page covers both views. From K9s' side the equity is 29.32%, and from KQs' side it is 70.68%. ## Keep exploring Try KsQs against Kh9h in the calculator: the hands share no suit, and every card can be changed. The links after it are the closest matchups in the ranking. - [Open KsQs against Kh9h in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=KsQs&p2=Kh9h) - [KQs combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/kqs.md) - [K9s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/k9s.md) - [KQs vs A5s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqs-vs-a5s.md) - [KQs vs A6s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqs-vs-a6s.md) - [66 vs K9s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/66-vs-k9s.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 12 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 - [KQs vs A5s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqs-vs-a5s.md) - [KQs vs A6s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqs-vs-a6s.md) - [66 vs K9s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/66-vs-k9s.md)