--- title: "KQs vs Q9s: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqs-vs-q9s.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqs-vs-q9s" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "KQs is a big favorite over Q9s before the flop: 71.01% to 28.99% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqs-vs-jts.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqs-vs-a2s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/66-vs-q9s.md"] --- # KQs vs Q9s: preflop equity KQs is a big favorite over Q9s before the flop: 71.01% to 28.99% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. The exact count puts KQs at 71.01% and Q9s at 28.99% when the two hands see all five board cards. ## KQs against Q9s: the numbers **Exact preflop results for KQs against Q9s, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | KQs | 69.779 | 2.454 | 27.767 | 71.006 | | Q9s | 27.767 | 2.454 | 69.779 | 28.994 | The matchup is suited hands on both sides, KQs against Q9s. 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. A lead of 42.02 points is large but not decisive: Q9s still takes about 278 of every 1,000 deals. 2.45% of boards are ties, so the equity of each hand is its win rate plus half of that. For context, KQs sits at number 16 of 169 starting hands and Q9s at number 43 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 | 14,338,000 | 504,000 | 5,705,000 | | Q9s | 5,705,000 | 504,000 | 14,338,000 | 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 Q9s 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 | 2.449 | 1.433 | 3.601 | 0.408 | | Q9s | 0.408 | 3.601 | 1.433 | 2.449 | 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 75.94%, and likes low rainbow flops (nine high or lower) least, where it holds 61.14%. KQs stays ahead on all five textures. **KQs against Q9s by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | KQs wins | Ties | Q9s wins | KQs equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 23.867 | 74.784 | 2.312 | 22.904 | 75.940 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 7.042 | 60.640 | 1.000 | 38.360 | 61.140 | | Two-tone | 46.543 | 68.797 | 1.828 | 29.375 | 69.711 | | Monotone | 5.215 | 61.816 | 4.364 | 33.820 | 63.998 | | Paired | 17.333 | 71.632 | 4.344 | 24.024 | 73.804 | Flop types: rainbow means three different suits, two-tone means one suit twice, monotone means one suit three times, paired means a repeated rank. ## Compared with a random hand Compared with a random opponent, this matchup shifts KQs from 63.40% by +7.61 points and Q9s from 57.66% by -28.67 points. **KQs and Q9s 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 | 71.006 | 63.400 | +7.606 | 1.11997 | | KQs, rainbow, ten or higher | 75.940 | 63.400 | +12.540 | 1.19779 | | KQs, rainbow, nine or lower | 61.140 | 63.400 | -2.260 | 0.96435 | | KQs, two-tone | 69.711 | 63.400 | +6.311 | 1.09954 | | KQs, monotone | 63.998 | 63.400 | +0.598 | 1.00943 | | KQs, paired | 73.804 | 63.400 | +10.404 | 1.16410 | | Q9s, all flops | 28.994 | 57.664 | -28.670 | 0.50281 | | Q9s, rainbow, ten or higher | 24.060 | 57.664 | -33.604 | 0.41724 | | Q9s, rainbow, nine or lower | 38.860 | 57.664 | -18.804 | 0.67390 | | Q9s, two-tone | 30.289 | 57.664 | -27.375 | 0.52527 | | Q9s, monotone | 36.002 | 57.664 | -21.662 | 0.62434 | | Q9s, paired | 26.196 | 57.664 | -31.468 | 0.45429 | ## Does a shared suit matter? A shared suit is impossible for this matchup, so KQs' 71.01% is the answer for every suit pattern. **KQs against Q9s by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | KQs wins | Ties | Q9s wins | KQs equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 0 | 0.00 | not possible | not possible | not possible | not possible | | No shared suit | 12 | 100.00 | 69.779 | 2.454 | 27.767 | 71.006 | ## How often this matchup comes up The class pair covers 12 combinations of specific cards in a fixed seat order, 0.0007% of 1,624,350, and 24 (0.0015%) in either order. ## A worked example Worked example: both players commit $100, so $200 sits in the middle. Over every board, KQs' average share is $142.02 (a gain of $42.02) and Q9s' is $57.98 (a loss of $42.02). Per 1,000 deals: KQs wins about 698, Q9s wins about 278, and about 24 end in a split pot. ## The same matchup from the other side Q9s against KQs adds nothing new: it is 28.99% for Q9s and 71.01% for KQs, the same figures reversed. ## Keep exploring Try KsQs against Qh9h 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 Qh9h in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=KsQs&p2=Qh9h) - [KQs combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/kqs.md) - [Q9s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/q9s.md) - [KQs vs JTs](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqs-vs-jts.md) - [KQs vs A2s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqs-vs-a2s.md) - [66 vs Q9s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/66-vs-q9s.md) - [All hand matchups](https://georgelipoker.com/equity.md) ## How this was computed This is an exact count with no sampling. For the 12 ways to deal one KQs and one Q9s 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 JTs: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqs-vs-jts.md) - [KQs vs A2s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqs-vs-a2s.md) - [66 vs Q9s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/66-vs-q9s.md)