AKo vs A5o
Domination — a shared rank turns this into a kicker fight, and kicker fights are lopsided.
- AKo Win
- 70.2%
- Tie
- 4.7%
- AKo Lose
- 25.1%
- Card combinations
- 108
- AKo vs random
- 65.4% · #12
- A5o vs random
- 57.7% · #42
Win, tie and loss for AKo
When AKo and A5o get all in before the flop, AKo wins 72.6% of the time and A5o takes 27.4%. Broken down, AKo wins outright 70.2%, chops 4.7% and loses 25.1% — a margin of 45.2 points. Domination — a shared rank turns this into a kicker fight, and kicker fights are lopsided.
The same matchup shifts depending on how the suits overlap. With no shared suit the number is 72.4% (for example As Kh against Ad 5c); with both suits shared it is 72.7% (As Kh against Ah 5s). That is a spread of 0.38 points across the 108 distinct card combinations, and it comes almost entirely from whether the two hands are fighting over the same flush.
Add a third player holding a random hand and the split becomes AKo 49.5%, A5o 19.4%, random 31.1%. AKo gives up 23 points and A5o gives up 8, so the favourite loses more than the underdog does. Extra players always eat into the leader's share faster than into anyone else's.
Taken on their own, AKo is worth 65.4% against a random hand (rank 12 of 169) and A5o is worth 57.7% (rank 42). The gap between them in the ranking is only 7.7 points, yet head to head the gap is 45.2 points — a reminder that a ranking table and a direct matchup are two different questions.
Framed as a run of one hundred identical all-ins, AKo scoops roughly 70 pots, splits about 5, and loses the remaining 25. Against eight random opponents rather than this one specific hand, AKo would be down to 19.1% and A5o to 11.4%, so the shape of this particular confrontation matters far more than either hand's standing in the overall ranking.
From A5o's side, 27.4% is the break-even point for calling an all-in at 2.65:1 pot odds. Put another way, the call is profitable as long as the amount you have to put in is less than 27.4% of the pot you are playing for. AKo holds the other 72.6% of that same pot.
Two caveats keep this figure honest. First, it is showdown equity across all 108 card combinations with five board cards still to come — there is no fold equity in it, so the value of shoving in practice is usually higher than the raw percentage suggests. Second, it assumes A5o really does hold exactly A5o; against the wider range a player would actually get all in with, AKo's 72.6% moves. Use the individual pages for AKo and A5o to see how each of them fares against all 168 other holdings before treating this single pairing as the whole picture.
Overlapping suits move the number
200,000 simulated showdowns per condition. The example column shows one concrete four-card layout.
| Condition | Example | Combos | AKo Equity | Win | Tie | Lose |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No shared suit | As Kh vs Ad 5c | 24 | 72.4% | 70.1% | 4.6% | 25.3% |
| One shared suit | As Kh vs Ah 5d | 72 | 72.6% | 70.3% | 4.7% | 25.0% |
| Both suits shared | As Kh vs Ah 5s | 12 | 72.7% | 70.3% | 4.8% | 24.9% |
Adding a random third hand
200,000 simulated showdowns, with the third hand dealt at random each time.
At a bigger table
| Random opponents | AKo | A5o |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 65.4% | 57.7% |
| 2 | 47.9% | 38.0% |
| 4 | 32.4% | 22.0% |
| 8 | 19.1% | 11.4% |
Related
FAQ
AKo or A5o — which is ahead preflop?
AKo is the favourite. AKo takes 72.6% and A5o 27.4%, a margin of 45.2 points, with 4.7% of hands ending in a chop.
Do the suits change AKo vs A5o?
Yes. With no shared suit it is 72.4%, and with both suits shared it is 72.7% — a swing of up to 0.38 points.
What happens three-way?
With one extra random hand in the pot the split is AKo 49.5%, A5o 19.4%, random 31.1%. AKo drops 23 points compared with heads-up.
433 words / 29 distinct figures — Method
