42s

42s (four-deuce suited) wins 36.9% of the time against a single random opponent, which places it 158th out of the 169 starting hands — the top 93.5% of the range. At a six-handed table (five opponents) its equity falls to 13.5% and its rank moves to 130; nine-handed (eight opponents) it holds 10.3% for rank 111. A suited hand — the flush adds a few points of raw equity.

Its suited/offsuit twin 42o runs at 33.3% (rank 168), a gap of 3.6 points. Sharing a suit is worth exactly those 3.6 points here — nothing about the ranks changes. The hand directly above it in the ranking is 83o at 37.3%, and directly below is 82o at 36.8%, so three hands are packed into a band of 0.5 points.

Played heads-up against each of the other 168 hands, 42s is a favourite against 3 of them and an underdog against 165. Its best matchup is 32o at 55.7% and its worst is 44 at 15.6% — a spread of 40.1 points, which is why calling 42s simply "strong" or "weak" says very little. 1 opponents land inside one point of a coinflip, the closest being 43o at 49.3%.

It is dominated by 8 hands in return, the worst of them A4s, which leaves 42s with only 27.6%. A single kicker can move the number by tens of points, and the full table below lists every one of those opponents.

Within the 78 suited hands it comes 77 of 78. The strongest hand in that group, AKs, is 30.3 points away, and the weakest, 32s, sits 1 points below. Measured against the average equity of all 169 hands, 51%, 42s lands -14.1 points from the middle of the pack, and 157 hands in the full ranking are still ahead of it.

Adding players costs equity steadily: 36.9% against one opponent, 24.7% against two, 15.6% against four and 10.3% against eight. That last figure is 93% of an even nine-way share (11.1%). The Chen formula scores this hand at 4 points, and it arrives 0.3% of the time (4 of 1,326 combinations).

One caveat worth repeating: every number on this page assumes the opponent holds a completely random hand and that the pot goes to showdown. Real opponents hold ranges, and a range that has already put money in is stronger than random — which is exactly why 42s reads as 36.9% here but plays worse than that against a raise. Use the 168 rows in the table below to see which specific holdings are the problem, rather than treating the headline figure as a verdict on the hand.

42s pairs the board on the flop — at least one of its two ranks hits — 32.4% of the time, and flops top pair or better (the paired card is the highest on the board, or two pair and up) 3.56%. By the river it has made a pair or better 48.7% of the time.

For straights, the flop completes one 0.653% of the time (128 flops), gives an eight-out draw 3.67% and a four-out gutshot 12.7%. By the river a straight using a hole card completes 5.20% of the time. For flushes, two or more of its suit land on the flop 11.8% of the time (a made flush 0.842%), and a flush is complete by the river 6.40%.

Put together, 42s flops a pair or better or a strong draw (a flush draw or an eight-out straight draw) 45.8% of the time — rank 27 of the 156 unpaired hands (tied with 1 other). The highest is JTs, T9s, 98s and 4 others at 50.6% and the lowest AKo, A2o at 32.8%.

Against one random hand, 42s goes from 36.8% before the flop up to 59.1% when either card pairs, and down to 26.2% when both miss. It connects 32.4% of the time (6,356 of 19,600 flops). Missing with a card above 4 on board leaves 26.2%; missing with nothing above 4 leaves 28.9%.

By board shape: rainbow 35.1%, two-tone 37.8%, monotone 39.5%. Two of your suit (a flush draw) gives 50.9% (10.9% of flops), and three of your suit (a made flush) 88.1% (0.842%). A paired board gives 35.3%, and a connected board (three ranks within five) 35.4%. The best row in the table is "Three of your suit (made flush)" at 88.1%, the worst "and at least one card above 4" at 26.2%.

The 36.9% at the top of the page is a 400,000-hand simulation; this table counts every deal of the opponent's two cards and the five-card board (2,097,572,400 per starting hand), which puts the pre-flop figure at 36.83% (a gap of 0.07 points). Each equity is taken with the flop out and the turn and river still to come.