Domination

Domination happens when two hands share exactly one rank. The unshared card — the kicker — decides the pot, and the gap it creates is brutal: the top entry here, AKs vs K2o, runs 78.4%. All 60 pairings on this page are 65% or more one-sided.

What people underestimate is how much worse domination is than a flip. A pair against two overcards is within a point of even money; a kicker problem puts you in the 76.7%–78.4% band instead. Getting all in "because I have an ace" is the classic way to land there.

41 of these 60 pairings involve an ace. Holding an ace feels strong, which is precisely the trap: the moment the other player also holds one, the pot turns into a kicker contest and runs around 77.1% in one direction. Avoiding it is simple in principle — do not push weak-kicker aces and loose broadway hands into ranges that have already shown strength. Each hand page carries a list of the specific holdings that dominate it, which is the fastest way to learn where your own trouble spots are.

Of the 2725 qualifying pairings, 2013 have at least one suited hand. The narrowest margin on the list is 92o vs 42s at 65.0% and the widest is 78.4%, a range of 13.4 points. A suit in the mix pushes the underdog back up by a couple of points, which is why some shapes cross the threshold in one suit configuration and not in another.

This list comes from scanning all 14,196 ways of choosing two of the 169 hands and keeping the ones that fit. 2725 pairings qualified, and the page shows the 60 closest to the definition. The threshold is exactly one shared rank with the favourite holding at least 65%. The figures are pulled from the same table that drives every hand page, so any pairing missing here can still be looked up on either hand's own page.

Everything on this page assumes the opponent holds a random hand and that the pot is played to showdown. Real opponents hold ranges and can be made to fold, so read these figures as a measure of raw strength rather than as advice on how to play the group. Each hand was simulated over 400,000 showdowns against a single opponent, and every hand-versus-hand figure enumerates all suit layouts before running 200,000 simulated boards. The method page sets out how those numbers were checked against exact enumeration.