96s

96s (nine-six suited) wins 47.3% of the time against a single random opponent, which places it 104th out of the 169 starting hands — the top 61.5% of the range. At a six-handed table (five opponents) its equity falls to 17.2% and its rank moves to 77; nine-handed (eight opponents) it holds 12.4% for rank 72. A suited hand — the flush adds a few points of raw equity.

Its suited/offsuit twin 96o runs at 44.6% (rank 120), a gap of 2.7 points. Sharing a suit is worth exactly those 2.7 points here — nothing about the ranks changes. The hand directly above it in the ranking is J2s at 47.3%, and directly below is Q2o at 47.3%, so three hands are packed into a band of 0 points.

Played heads-up against each of the other 168 hands, 96s is a favourite against 54 of them and an underdog against 114. Its best matchup is 62o at 73.2% and its worst is 99 at 15.2% — a spread of 58 points, which is why calling 96s simply "strong" or "weak" says very little. 2 opponents land inside one point of a coinflip, the closest being 44 at 50.1%.

96s dominates 8 hands that share one of its ranks, pushing hardest against 62o at 73.2%. It is dominated by 8 hands in return, the worst of them J9s, which leaves 96s with only 29.5%. 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 50 of 78. The strongest hand in that group, AKs, is 19.9 points away, and the weakest, 32s, sits 11.4 points below. Measured against the average equity of all 169 hands, 51%, 96s lands -3.7 points from the middle of the pack, and 103 hands in the full ranking are still ahead of it.

Adding players costs equity steadily: 47.3% against one opponent, 32.1% against two, 20.4% against four and 12.4% against eight. That last figure is 112% of an even nine-way share (11.1%). The Chen formula scores this hand at 4.5 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 96s reads as 47.3% 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.

96s 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) 9.53%. 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 4.98% and a four-out gutshot 14.0%. By the river a straight using a hole card completes 6.40% 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, 96s flops a pair or better or a strong draw (a flush draw or an eight-out straight draw) 46.9% of the time — rank 18 of the 156 unpaired hands (tied with 2 others). The highest is JTs, T9s, 98s and 4 others at 50.6% and the lowest AKo, A2o at 32.8%.

Against one random hand, 96s goes from 47.4% before the flop up to 69.1% when either card pairs, and down to 37.0% when both miss. It connects 32.4% of the time (6,356 of 19,600 flops). Missing with a card above 9 on board leaves 36.4%; missing with nothing above 9 leaves 40.4%.

By board shape: rainbow 46.2%, two-tone 48.3%, monotone 48.1%. Two of your suit (a flush draw) gives 59.3% (10.9% of flops), and three of your suit (a made flush) 92.9% (0.842%). A paired board gives 45.0%, and a connected board (three ranks within five) 52.4%. The best row in the table is "Three of your suit (made flush)" at 92.9%, the worst "and at least one card above 9" at 36.4%.

The 47.3% 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 47.43% (a gap of 0.13 points). Each equity is taken with the flop out and the turn and river still to come.