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KK vs KQo

KK
VS
KQo
91.3%
equity for KK — KQo takes 8.7%

Pair against one overcard — roughly 70/30 in the pair's favour.

KK Win
90.7%
Tie
1.2%
KK Lose
8.1%
Card combinations
36
KK vs random
82.5% · #2
KQo vs random
61.5% · #23
Breakdown

Win, tie and loss for KK

Win 90.7%

When KK and KQo get all in before the flop, KK wins 91.3% of the time and KQo takes 8.7%. Broken down, KK wins outright 90.7%, chops 1.2% and loses 8.1% — a margin of 82.6 points. Pair against one overcard — roughly 70/30 in the pair's favour.

The same matchup shifts depending on how the suits overlap. With no shared suit the number is 90.6% (for example Ks Kh against Kd Qc); with one shared suit it is 91.6% (Ks Kh against Kd Qs). That is a spread of 0.98 points across the 36 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 KK 73.9%, KQo 8.1%, random 18.0%. KK gives up 17.4 points and KQo gives up 0.6, 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, KK is worth 82.5% against a random hand (rank 2 of 169) and KQo is worth 61.5% (rank 23). The gap between them in the ranking is only 21 points, yet head to head the gap is 82.6 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, KK scoops roughly 91 pots, splits about 1, and loses the remaining 8. Against eight random opponents rather than this one specific hand, KK would be down to 29.6% and KQo to 16.7%, so the shape of this particular confrontation matters far more than either hand's standing in the overall ranking.

From KQo's side, 8.7% is the break-even point for calling an all-in at 10.49:1 pot odds. Put another way, the call is profitable as long as the amount you have to put in is less than 8.7% of the pot you are playing for. KK holds the other 91.3% of that same pot.

Two caveats keep this figure honest. First, it is showdown equity across all 36 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 KQo really does hold exactly KQo; against the wider range a player would actually get all in with, KK's 91.3% moves. Use the individual pages for KK and KQo to see how each of them fares against all 168 other holdings before treating this single pairing as the whole picture.

By shared suits

Overlapping suits move the number

200,000 simulated showdowns per condition. The example column shows one concrete four-card layout.

ConditionExampleCombosKK EquityWinTieLose
No shared suitKs Kh vs Kd Qc1290.6%90.0%1.2%8.8%
One shared suitKs Kh vs Kd Qs2491.6%91.0%1.2%7.8%
Flop and turn

Who leads on each street, and how often it flips

Exact counts from the 48 unseen cards: all 17,296 flops × 990 turn-and-river pairs, and all 194,580 four-card turns × 44 rivers, for every suit combination — no simulation.

When the three flop cards are out, KK is ahead 98.5% of the time and KQo 1.51%, and the two hands are never level on the flop. "Ahead" means the better best-five-card hand from the cards showing plus the two hole cards; draws are not counted.

When KK leads on the flop, KQo comes back on the turn and river 6.85% of the time. When KQo leads on the flop, KK turns it around 4.72% of the time. The hand in front holds on to win 92.0% of the time from the flop and 94.6% from the turn (level spots left out).

With the turn out, KK leads 95.7% and KQo 4.13%. Counted exhaustively, KK finishes with 91.30% equity (the 91.3% at the top of the page is a 200,000-hand simulation).

On the flop — lead holds 92.0%, flips 6.82%
After the flopHow oftenKK winsTieKQo wins
KK ahead98.5%92.0%1.14%6.85%
Level (same hand)0%Never happens
KQo ahead1.51%4.72%6.57%88.7%
On the turn — lead holds 94.6%, flips 4.39%
After the turnHow oftenKK winsTieKQo wins
KK ahead95.7%94.7%0.900%4.44%
Level (same hand)0.203%1.69%97.0%1.26%
KQo ahead4.13%3.11%4.04%92.9%

"Ahead" compares the best five-card hands available at that point (draws are not counted). "Flips" is the share of leads that end in a loss, with level spots left out.

Three-way

Adding a random third hand

200,000 simulated showdowns, with the third hand dealt at random each time.

KK
73.9%
vs heads-up -17.4pt
KQo
8.1%
vs heads-up -0.6pt
Random third hand
18.0%
Player count

At a bigger table

Random opponentsKKKQo
182.5%61.5%
268.9%44.4%
449.3%29.2%
829.6%16.7%

Related

FAQ

KK or KQo — which is ahead preflop?

KK is the favourite. KK takes 91.3% and KQo 8.7%, a margin of 82.6 points, with 1.2% of hands ending in a chop.

Do the suits change KK vs KQo?

Yes. With no shared suit it is 90.6%, and with one shared suit it is 91.6% — a swing of up to 0.98 points.

What happens three-way?

With one extra random hand in the pot the split is KK 73.9%, KQo 8.1%, random 18.0%. KK drops 17.4 points compared with heads-up.

How often does the flop leader lose in KK vs KQo?

The hand ahead on the flop goes on to lose 6.82% of the time (level spots left out). When KK leads, KQo comes back 6.85%. When KQo leads, KK comes back 4.72%. Exact counts over every flop, turn and river.

428 words / 29 distinct figures — Method