--- title: "KQs vs KTs: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqs-vs-kts.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqs-vs-kts" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "KQs is a big favorite over KTs before the flop: 70.58% to 29.42% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqs-vs-kqo.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqs-vs-a7s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/66-vs-kts.md"] --- # KQs vs KTs: preflop equity KQs is a big favorite over KTs before the flop: 70.58% to 29.42% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. Counting every board, the equity split is 70.58% for KQs and 29.42% for KTs, so KQs leads by 41.16 points. ## KQs against KTs: the numbers **Exact preflop results for KQs against KTs, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | KQs | 68.005 | 5.144 | 26.851 | 70.577 | | KTs | 26.851 | 5.144 | 68.005 | 29.423 | KQs and KTs are both suited hands. Because the hands share one rank, the one with the higher kicker is ahead when that rank pairs and the other hand is mostly drawing. KQs is the clear favorite, though KTs gets there on roughly one board in 3. The tie share is 5.14%: on those boards the pot is chopped and neither hand wins outright. Among the 169 starting hands, KQs is number 16 and KTs is number 22 by strength 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 | 13,973,000 | 1,057,000 | 5,517,000 | | KTs | 5,517,000 | 1,057,000 | 13,973,000 | The total is exact: 12 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 KTs 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 | 2.399 | 1.470 | 3.724 | 0.417 | | KTs | 0.417 | 3.724 | 1.470 | 2.399 | 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 low rainbow flops (nine high or lower), where it holds 81.26%, and likes monotone flops least, where it holds 64.17%. 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 KTs by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | KQs wins | Ties | KTs wins | KQs equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 23.138 | 68.595 | 3.284 | 28.121 | 70.237 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 7.771 | 79.482 | 3.546 | 16.972 | 81.255 | | Two-tone | 46.543 | 68.472 | 3.071 | 28.457 | 70.007 | | Monotone | 5.215 | 61.613 | 5.119 | 33.268 | 64.173 | | Paired | 17.333 | 62.746 | 13.914 | 23.340 | 69.703 | 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 A random hand would give KQs 63.40% and KTs 61.79%. Against each other the change is +7.18 points for KQs and -32.37 for KTs. **KQs and KTs 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 | 70.577 | 63.400 | +7.177 | 1.11320 | | KQs, rainbow, ten or higher | 70.237 | 63.400 | +6.837 | 1.10784 | | KQs, rainbow, nine or lower | 81.255 | 63.400 | +17.855 | 1.28162 | | KQs, two-tone | 70.007 | 63.400 | +6.607 | 1.10421 | | KQs, monotone | 64.173 | 63.400 | +0.773 | 1.01219 | | KQs, paired | 69.703 | 63.400 | +6.303 | 1.09942 | | KTs, all flops | 29.423 | 61.789 | -32.366 | 0.47619 | | KTs, rainbow, ten or higher | 29.763 | 61.789 | -32.026 | 0.48169 | | KTs, rainbow, nine or lower | 18.745 | 61.789 | -43.044 | 0.30337 | | KTs, two-tone | 29.993 | 61.789 | -31.796 | 0.48541 | | KTs, monotone | 35.827 | 61.789 | -25.962 | 0.57983 | | KTs, paired | 30.297 | 61.789 | -31.492 | 0.49033 | ## Does a shared suit matter? For this pair the shared-suit row is empty: the two hands cannot both own a card of one suit without reusing a card. **KQs against KTs by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | KQs wins | Ties | KTs wins | KQs equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 0 | 0.00 | not possible | not possible | not possible | not possible | | No shared suit | 12 | 100.00 | 68.005 | 5.144 | 26.851 | 70.577 | ## How often this matchup comes up Exactly 12 specific deals fit this matchup in one seat order, which is 0.0007% of 1,624,350; both orders together give 24, or 0.0015%. ## A worked example Say each player puts $100 in before the flop, making a $200 pot. On average KQs takes back $141.16 of it, which is $41.16 more than it put in, and KTs takes back $58.84, $41.16 less than it put in. Scaled to 1,000 deals, that is roughly 680 wins for KQs, 269 for KTs and 51 chopped pots. ## The same matchup from the other side The reversed view, KTs against KQs, shows 29.42% for KTs and 70.58% for KQs. It is the same count, so it redirects here. ## Keep exploring Try KsQs against KhTh 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 KhTh in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=KsQs&p2=KhTh) - [KQs combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/kqs.md) - [KTs combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/kts.md) - [KQs vs KQo](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqs-vs-kqo.md) - [KQs vs A7s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqs-vs-a7s.md) - [66 vs KTs](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/66-vs-kts.md) - [All hand matchups](https://georgelipoker.com/equity.md) ## How this was computed Each figure is a complete count over boards. Take the 12 specific deals, group them by suit pattern, deal all 1,712,304 boards against each, and compare the two seven-card hands. Equity counts a tie as half a win; the flop rows use every one of a board's ten flops. Source: our own exact count from the GeorgeLiPoker poker math library. No outside data is used. ## Related - [KQs vs KQo: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqs-vs-kqo.md) - [KQs vs A7s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqs-vs-a7s.md) - [66 vs KTs: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/66-vs-kts.md)