--- title: "KQs vs QJs: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqs-vs-qjs.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqs-vs-qjs" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "KQs is a big favorite over QJs before the flop: 70.84% to 29.16% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqs-vs-k9s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqs-vs-a5s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/66-vs-qjs.md"] --- # KQs vs QJs: preflop equity KQs is a big favorite over QJs before the flop: 70.84% to 29.16% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. In equity, KQs against QJs stands at 70.84% to 29.16%, a gap of 41.68 points. ## KQs against QJs: the numbers **Exact preflop results for KQs against QJs, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | KQs | 69.635 | 2.410 | 27.955 | 70.840 | | QJs | 27.955 | 2.410 | 69.635 | 29.160 | 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** | Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | KQs | 14,308,000 | 495,000 | 5,744,000 | | QJs | 5,744,000 | 495,000 | 14,308,000 | 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** | Hand | Equity as odds (to 1) | Wins one deal in | Loses one deal in | Pot odds needed to call (to 1) | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | KQs | 2.429 | 1.436 | 3.577 | 0.412 | | QJs | 0.412 | 3.577 | 1.436 | 2.429 | 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** | Flop | Share of flops | KQs wins | Ties | QJs wins | KQs equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 23.138 | 67.989 | 2.221 | 29.790 | 69.099 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 7.771 | 81.766 | 1.151 | 17.083 | 82.341 | | Two-tone | 46.543 | 68.668 | 1.780 | 29.552 | 69.558 | | Monotone | 5.215 | 61.645 | 4.345 | 34.010 | 63.817 | | Paired | 17.333 | 71.396 | 4.337 | 24.267 | 73.565 | 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** | Case | Equity here | Against a random hand | Change in points | Times the random-hand equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | KQs, all flops | 70.840 | 63.400 | +7.440 | 1.11735 | | KQs, rainbow, ten or higher | 69.099 | 63.400 | +5.699 | 1.08989 | | KQs, rainbow, nine or lower | 82.341 | 63.400 | +18.941 | 1.29875 | | KQs, two-tone | 69.558 | 63.400 | +6.158 | 1.09713 | | KQs, monotone | 63.817 | 63.400 | +0.417 | 1.00658 | | KQs, paired | 73.565 | 63.400 | +10.165 | 1.16033 | | QJs, all flops | 29.160 | 60.259 | -31.099 | 0.48391 | | QJs, rainbow, ten or higher | 30.901 | 60.259 | -29.358 | 0.51280 | | QJs, rainbow, nine or lower | 17.659 | 60.259 | -42.600 | 0.29305 | | QJs, two-tone | 30.442 | 60.259 | -29.817 | 0.50519 | | QJs, monotone | 36.183 | 60.259 | -24.076 | 0.60046 | | QJs, paired | 26.435 | 60.259 | -33.824 | 0.43869 | ## 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** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | KQs wins | Ties | QJs wins | KQs equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 0 | 0.00 | not possible | not possible | not possible | not possible | | No shared suit | 12 | 100.00 | 69.635 | 2.410 | 27.955 | 70.840 | ## 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%. ## Keep exploring 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. - [Open KsQs against QhJh in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=KsQs&p2=QhJh) - [KQs combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/kqs.md) - [QJs combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/qjs.md) - [KQs vs K9s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqs-vs-k9s.md) - [KQs vs A5s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqs-vs-a5s.md) - [66 vs QJs](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/66-vs-qjs.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 K9s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqs-vs-k9s.md) - [KQs vs A5s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqs-vs-a5s.md) - [66 vs QJs: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/66-vs-qjs.md)