--- title: "KTs vs K9s: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kts-vs-k9s.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kts-vs-k9s" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "KTs is a big favorite over K9s before the flop: 69.19% to 30.81% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kts-vs-a5s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kts-vs-a6s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqo-vs-k9s.md"] --- # KTs vs K9s: preflop equity KTs is a big favorite over K9s before the flop: 69.19% to 30.81% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. Dealt all in against each other, KTs takes 69.19% of the pot on average and K9s takes the other 30.81%. ## KTs against K9s: the numbers **Exact preflop results for KTs against K9s, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | KTs | 64.472 | 9.434 | 26.094 | 69.189 | | K9s | 26.094 | 9.434 | 64.472 | 30.811 | KTs meets K9s, and both are 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. A lead of 38.38 points is large but not decisive: K9s still takes about 261 of every 1,000 deals. A split pot comes up on 9.43% of boards, so the wins and the equity differ by half of that. KTs ranks number 22 of 169 starting hands, and K9s ranks number 29, by equity against a random hand. **Boards behind the percentages: 20,547,648 counted in all** | Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | KTs | 13,247,000 | 1,938,000 | 5,362,000 | | K9s | 5,362,000 | 1,938,000 | 13,247,000 | The board total is exact, 12 deals at 1,712,304 boards each. Won, tied and lost counts are rounded to the nearest thousand from the five-decimal percentages. **KTs 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) | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | KTs | 2.246 | 1.551 | 3.832 | 0.445 | | K9s | 0.445 | 3.832 | 1.551 | 2.246 | 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 Across the five flop textures KTs' equity moves by 12.60 points, from 62.33% on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower) to 74.93% on rainbow flops topped by a ten or better. KTs stays ahead on all five textures. **KTs against K9s by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | KTs wins | Ties | K9s wins | KTs equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 23.867 | 70.704 | 8.443 | 20.853 | 74.925 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 7.042 | 61.052 | 2.555 | 36.393 | 62.330 | | Two-tone | 46.543 | 65.921 | 6.423 | 27.656 | 69.133 | | Monotone | 5.215 | 59.718 | 7.584 | 32.698 | 63.510 | | Paired | 17.333 | 54.819 | 22.235 | 22.946 | 65.937 | 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 The table below sets each hand against its own random-hand baseline: a change of +7.40 points for KTs, from 61.79%, and -29.18 for K9s, from 59.99%. **KTs 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 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | KTs, all flops | 69.189 | 61.789 | +7.400 | 1.11976 | | KTs, rainbow, ten or higher | 74.925 | 61.789 | +13.136 | 1.21259 | | KTs, rainbow, nine or lower | 62.330 | 61.789 | +0.541 | 1.00876 | | KTs, two-tone | 69.133 | 61.789 | +7.344 | 1.11886 | | KTs, monotone | 63.510 | 61.789 | +1.721 | 1.02785 | | KTs, paired | 65.937 | 61.789 | +4.148 | 1.06713 | | K9s, all flops | 30.811 | 59.988 | -29.177 | 0.51362 | | K9s, rainbow, ten or higher | 25.075 | 59.988 | -34.913 | 0.41800 | | K9s, rainbow, nine or lower | 37.670 | 59.988 | -22.318 | 0.62796 | | K9s, two-tone | 30.867 | 59.988 | -29.121 | 0.51455 | | K9s, monotone | 36.490 | 59.988 | -23.498 | 0.60829 | | K9s, paired | 34.063 | 59.988 | -25.925 | 0.56783 | ## Does a shared suit matter? Suits do not split this matchup, because no legal deal has the hands holding the same suit. **KTs against K9s by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | KTs wins | Ties | K9s wins | KTs equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 0 | 0.00 | not possible | not possible | not possible | not possible | | No shared suit | 12 | 100.00 | 64.472 | 9.434 | 26.094 | 69.189 | ## How often this matchup comes up Counting specific cards, KTs against K9s appears in 12 of the 1,624,350 ordered heads-up deals (0.0007%), and in 24 when the seats are swapped too (0.0015%). ## A worked example Worked example: both players commit $100, so $200 sits in the middle. Over every board, KTs' average share is $138.38 (a gain of $38.38) and K9s' is $61.62 (a loss of $38.38). Run 1,000 deals and the tally comes out near 645 for KTs, 261 for K9s and 94 ties. ## The same matchup from the other side The mirror image, K9s against KTs, is 30.81% to 69.19%, and its address redirects to this page. ## Keep exploring The calculator link fills in KsTs against Kh9h, 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 KsTs against Kh9h in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=KsTs&p2=Kh9h) - [KTs combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/kts.md) - [K9s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/k9s.md) - [KTs vs A5s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kts-vs-a5s.md) - [KTs vs A6s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kts-vs-a6s.md) - [KQo vs K9s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqo-vs-k9s.md) - [All hand matchups](https://georgelipoker.com/equity.md) ## How this was computed Nothing here is simulated. The 12 deals of KTs against K9s fall into a few suit patterns, each dealt against all 1,712,304 boards, with both best five-card hands compared on every board. Ties give each hand half a win, and the flop rows count a board under each of its ten flops. Source: our own exact count from the GeorgeLiPoker poker math library. No outside data is used. ## Related - [KTs vs A5s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kts-vs-a5s.md) - [KTs vs A6s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kts-vs-a6s.md) - [KQo vs K9s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kqo-vs-k9s.md)