--- title: "Q9s vs 43s: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/q9s-vs-43s.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/q9s-vs-43s" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "Q9s is a big favorite over 43s before the flop: 63.54% to 36.46% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/jts-vs-43s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/q9s-vs-53s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/k9o-vs-43s.md"] --- # Q9s vs 43s: preflop equity Q9s is a big favorite over 43s before the flop: 63.54% to 36.46% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. Over all 1,712,304 boards that can follow this deal, Q9s finishes with 63.54% of the pot and 43s with 36.46%. ## Q9s against 43s: the numbers **Exact preflop results for Q9s against 43s, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Q9s | 63.038 | 0.998 | 35.964 | 63.537 | | 43s | 35.964 | 0.998 | 63.038 | 36.463 | Here suited hands face each other, Q9s on one side and 43s on the other. The two hands share no rank, which makes this a pure matchup of card strength, straight chances and flush chances. Q9s is ahead, but 43s is far from dead: it takes 360 of every 1,000 deals outright. Split pots make up 1.00% of the boards, and both equity figures count them as half a win each. Among the 169 starting hands, Q9s is number 43 and 43s is number 150 by strength against a random hand. **Boards behind the percentages: 27,396,864 counted in all** | Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Q9s | 17,270,000 | 273,000 | 9,853,000 | | 43s | 9,853,000 | 273,000 | 17,270,000 | 16 specific deals times 1,712,304 boards gives the exact total. The won, tied and lost counts are approximations from the five-decimal percentages, rounded to the nearest thousand. **Q9s against 43s read as odds** | Hand | Equity as odds (to 1) | Wins one deal in | Loses one deal in | Pot odds needed to call (to 1) | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Q9s | 1.743 | 1.586 | 2.781 | 0.574 | | 43s | 0.574 | 2.781 | 1.586 | 1.743 | The last column is the break-even price: the pot odds a call needs to offer, as a ratio of pot to call. ## Who is ahead on which flops Split by what the flop looks like, Q9s peaks at 67.19% on rainbow flops topped by a ten or better and bottoms out at 49.52% on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower). On low rainbow flops (nine high or lower) the numbers flip and 43s is the one ahead. **Q9s against 43s by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | Q9s wins | Ties | 43s wins | Q9s equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 25.220 | 66.940 | 0.491 | 32.569 | 67.186 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 5.689 | 49.089 | 0.870 | 50.041 | 49.524 | | Two-tone | 46.727 | 62.659 | 0.514 | 36.827 | 62.916 | | Monotone | 5.273 | 58.811 | 3.779 | 37.410 | 60.700 | | Paired | 17.091 | 64.264 | 2.251 | 33.485 | 65.390 | 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 Against one random hand instead, Q9s holds 57.66% and 43s holds 38.64%. Facing each other changes that by +5.88 points for Q9s and -2.18 points for 43s. **Q9s and 43s 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 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Q9s, all flops | 63.537 | 57.664 | +5.873 | 1.10185 | | Q9s, rainbow, ten or higher | 67.186 | 57.664 | +9.522 | 1.16513 | | Q9s, rainbow, nine or lower | 49.524 | 57.664 | -8.140 | 0.85884 | | Q9s, two-tone | 62.916 | 57.664 | +5.252 | 1.09108 | | Q9s, monotone | 60.700 | 57.664 | +3.036 | 1.05265 | | Q9s, paired | 65.390 | 57.664 | +7.726 | 1.13398 | | 43s, all flops | 36.463 | 38.642 | -2.179 | 0.94361 | | 43s, rainbow, ten or higher | 32.814 | 38.642 | -5.828 | 0.84918 | | 43s, rainbow, nine or lower | 50.476 | 38.642 | +11.834 | 1.30625 | | 43s, two-tone | 37.084 | 38.642 | -1.558 | 0.95968 | | 43s, monotone | 39.300 | 38.642 | +0.658 | 1.01703 | | 43s, paired | 34.610 | 38.642 | -4.032 | 0.89566 | ## Does a shared suit matter? Does suit overlap move the numbers? Q9s has 65.90% when the hands share a suit and 62.75% when they do not. Q9s does better with a shared suit, by 3.15 points. **Q9s against 43s by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | Q9s wins | Ties | 43s wins | Q9s equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 4 | 25.00 | 65.349 | 1.096 | 33.555 | 65.897 | | No shared suit | 12 | 75.00 | 62.268 | 0.965 | 36.767 | 62.750 | ## How often this matchup comes up The class pair covers 16 combinations of specific cards in a fixed seat order, 0.0010% of 1,624,350, and 32 (0.0020%) in either order. ## A worked example Take a $200 pot built from $100 each. Q9s' equity of 63.54% is worth $127.08, a $27.08 edge, and 43s' 36.46% is worth $72.92, which is $27.08 under its stake. Over a long run, 1,000 deals split into about 630 for Q9s, 360 for 43s and 10 tied. ## The same matchup from the other side Read it from the other side: 43s against Q9s is the same matchup with the numbers swapped, so 43s holds 36.46% and Q9s holds 63.54%. That address sends you back to this page. ## Keep exploring Open the calculator with Qs9s against 4h3h already entered, a deal with no shared suit, and change any card to try your own hand. The matchups after it each swap one hand for a nearby one in the ranking. - [Open Qs9s against 4h3h in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=Qs9s&p2=4h3h) - [Q9s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/q9s.md) - [43s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/43s.md) - [JTs vs 43s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/jts-vs-43s.md) - [Q9s vs 53s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/q9s-vs-53s.md) - [K9o vs 43s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/k9o-vs-43s.md) - [All hand matchups](https://georgelipoker.com/equity.md) ## How this was computed Method: exact enumeration. The 16 specific deals are grouped by suit pattern, each is run against all 1,712,304 boards, and both seven-card hands are scored. Equity adds half of every tie, and flop textures are tallied over the ten flops inside each board. Source: our own exact count from the GeorgeLiPoker poker math library. No outside data is used. ## Related - [JTs vs 43s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/jts-vs-43s.md) - [Q9s vs 53s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/q9s-vs-53s.md) - [K9o vs 43s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/k9o-vs-43s.md)