64.66%
Wins 64.08%, ties 1.17%
KQs
35.34%
Wins 34.75%, ties 1.17%
QQ against KQs: the numbers
| Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 64.079 | 1.165 | 34.756 | 64.661 | |
| KQs | 34.756 | 1.165 | 64.079 | 35.339 |
One side is a pocket pair, the other is a suited hand. The pair already holds one of the other hand's ranks, and that overlap cuts down the cards the other hand can pair with.
A 29.32 point lead is real, and KQs still takes about 347 of every 1,000 deals outright. Ties are 1.17% of the outcomes here; each tied board gives both hands half the pot.
Among the 169 starting hands, QQ is number 3 and KQs is number 16 by strength against a random hand.
| Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13,167,000 | 239,000 | 7,142,000 | |
| KQs | 7,142,000 | 239,000 | 13,167,000 |
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.
| Hand | Equity as odds (to 1) | Wins one deal in | Loses one deal in | Pot odds needed to call (to 1) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.830 | 1.561 | 2.877 | 0.547 | |
| KQs | 0.547 | 2.877 | 1.561 | 1.830 |
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
Break the boards down by their first three cards and QQ is strongest on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower) (82.63%) and weakest on rainbow flops topped by a ten or better (59.53%). QQ stays ahead on all five textures, but the swing between them is large, so how the flop looks matters a great deal.
| Flop | Share of flops | QQ wins | Ties | KQs wins | QQ equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rainbow, ten or higher | 23.011 | 58.849 | 1.359 | 39.792 | 59.529 |
| Rainbow, nine or lower | 7.771 | 81.966 | 1.320 | 16.714 | 82.626 |
| Two-tone | 46.236 | 61.495 | 1.234 | 37.271 | 62.112 |
| Monotone | 5.151 | 59.356 | 2.304 | 38.340 | 60.508 |
| Paired | 17.831 | 71.096 | 0.340 | 28.564 | 71.266 |
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 QQ from 79.93% by -15.27 points and KQs from 63.40% by -28.06 points.
| Case | Equity here | Against a random hand | Change in points | Times the random-hand equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| QQ, all flops | 64.661 | 79.925 | -15.264 | 0.80902 |
| QQ, rainbow, ten or higher | 59.529 | 79.925 | -20.396 | 0.74481 |
| QQ, rainbow, nine or lower | 82.626 | 79.925 | +2.701 | 1.03379 |
| QQ, two-tone | 62.112 | 79.925 | -17.813 | 0.77713 |
| QQ, monotone | 60.508 | 79.925 | -19.417 | 0.75706 |
| QQ, paired | 71.266 | 79.925 | -8.659 | 0.89166 |
| KQs, all flops | 35.339 | 63.400 | -28.061 | 0.55740 |
| KQs, rainbow, ten or higher | 40.471 | 63.400 | -22.929 | 0.63834 |
| KQs, rainbow, nine or lower | 17.374 | 63.400 | -46.026 | 0.27404 |
| KQs, two-tone | 37.888 | 63.400 | -25.512 | 0.59760 |
| KQs, monotone | 39.492 | 63.400 | -23.908 | 0.62290 |
| KQs, paired | 28.734 | 63.400 | -34.666 | 0.45322 |
Does a shared suit matter?
A shared suit is impossible for this matchup, so QQ's 64.66% is the answer for every suit pattern.
| Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | QQ wins | Ties | KQs wins | QQ equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Share a suit | 0 | 0.00 | not possible | not possible | not possible | not possible |
| No shared suit | 12 | 100.00 | 64.079 | 1.165 | 34.756 | 64.661 |
How often this matchup comes up
You will meet this exact matchup 0.0015% of the time in a random heads-up deal: 24 of 1,624,350, counting either seat order.
A worked example
Say each player puts $100 in before the flop, making a $200 pot. On average QQ takes back $129.32 of it, which is $29.32 more than it put in, and KQs takes back $70.68, $29.32 less than it put in.
Scaled to 1,000 deals, that is roughly 641 wins for QQ, 347 for KQs and 12 chopped pots.
The same matchup from the other side
If you came looking for KQs against QQ, the numbers are the same with the hands swapped: 35.34% and 64.66%.
Keep exploring
QsQh against KdQd is a ready-made deal for the calculator, with no suit in common between the hands. The neighboring matchups below replace one hand with another of similar strength.
How this was computed
All 1,712,304 five-card boards are dealt for every suit pattern among the 12 specific deals of QQ against KQs, and both hands are scored on each. That is a full count, so the percentages are exact. Ties are half a win each, and each board appears once per flop it contains.
Source: our own exact count from the GeorgeLiPoker poker math library. No outside data is used.
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