KQs vs QJs: preflop equity

In equity, KQs against QJs stands at 70.84% to 29.16%, a gap of 41.68 points.

KQs

70.84%

Wins 69.64%, ties 2.41%

QJs

29.16%

Wins 27.95%, ties 2.41%

Equity counts a tie as half a win. Exact over every board.

KQs against QJs: the numbers

Exact preflop results for KQs against QJs, in percent
HandWinsTiesLosesEquity
KQs69.6352.41027.95570.840
QJs27.9552.41069.63529.160

This is a contest between two suited hands, KQs and QJs. 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 41.68 points is large but not decisive: QJs still takes about 280 of every 1,000 deals. Ties are part of the picture: 2.41% of boards end in a split pot, and each side counts that as half a win.

For context, KQs sits at number 16 of 169 starting hands and QJs at number 28 when each is run against a random hand.

Boards behind the percentages: 20,547,648 counted in all
HandBoards won, aboutBoards tied, aboutBoards lost, about
KQs14,308,000495,0005,744,000
QJs5,744,000495,00014,308,000

Exact total: 12 deals times 1,712,304 boards. The other three counts come from the five-decimal percentages and are rounded to the nearest thousand, so read them as approximate.

KQs against QJs read as odds
HandEquity as odds (to 1)Wins one deal inLoses one deal inPot odds needed to call (to 1)
KQs2.4291.4363.5770.412
QJs0.4123.5771.4362.429

The last column is the smallest pot odds, written as a pot-to-call ratio, at which a call breaks even with this equity.

Who is ahead on which flops

If you know the kind of flop that came, the numbers shift: KQs holds 82.34% on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower) and 63.82% on monotone flops. 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 QJs by flop texture, in percent
FlopShare of flopsKQs winsTiesQJs winsKQs equity
Rainbow, ten or higher23.13867.9892.22129.79069.099
Rainbow, nine or lower7.77181.7661.15117.08382.341
Two-tone46.54368.6681.78029.55269.558
Monotone5.21561.6454.34534.01063.817
Paired17.33371.3964.33724.26773.565

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

Start from the random-hand figures, 63.40% for KQs and 60.26% for QJs. This opponent changes them by +7.44 and -31.10 points.

KQs and QJs here compared with each against a random hand, in percent
CaseEquity hereAgainst a random handChange in pointsTimes the random-hand equity
KQs, all flops70.84063.400+7.4401.11735
KQs, rainbow, ten or higher69.09963.400+5.6991.08989
KQs, rainbow, nine or lower82.34163.400+18.9411.29875
KQs, two-tone69.55863.400+6.1581.09713
KQs, monotone63.81763.400+0.4171.00658
KQs, paired73.56563.400+10.1651.16033
QJs, all flops29.16060.259-31.0990.48391
QJs, rainbow, ten or higher30.90160.259-29.3580.51280
QJs, rainbow, nine or lower17.65960.259-42.6000.29305
QJs, two-tone30.44260.259-29.8170.50519
QJs, monotone36.18360.259-24.0760.60046
QJs, paired26.43560.259-33.8240.43869

Does a shared suit matter?

Every legal deal of KQs against QJs leaves the hands with no suit in common, so the suit split does not apply here.

KQs against QJs by suit overlap, in percent
DealsSpecific dealsShare of dealsKQs winsTiesQJs winsKQs equity
Share a suit00.00not possiblenot possiblenot possiblenot possible
No shared suit12100.0069.6352.41027.95570.840

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

A $100 all-in from each player makes a $200 pot, and the exact equity says KQs gets $141.68 of it on average and QJs gets $58.32.

Out of 1,000 deals you should see around 696 outright wins for KQs, 280 for QJs, and 24 split pots.

The same matchup from the other side

If you came looking for QJs against KQs, the numbers are the same with the hands swapped: 29.16% and 70.84%.

The calculator link fills in KsQs against QhJh, 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

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.

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