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KQo vs KJo

KQo
VS
KJo
73.9%
equity for KQo — KJo takes 26.1%

Domination — a shared rank turns this into a kicker fight, and kicker fights are lopsided.

KQo Win
71.0%
Tie
5.7%
KQo Lose
23.3%
Card combinations
108
KQo vs random
61.5% · #23
KJo vs random
60.5% · #26
Breakdown

Win, tie and loss for KQo

Win 71.0%Lose 23.3%

When KQo and KJo get all in before the flop, KQo wins 73.9% of the time and KJo takes 26.1%. Broken down, KQo wins outright 71.0%, chops 5.7% and loses 23.3% — a margin of 47.8 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 73.7% (for example Ks Qh against Kd Jc); with both suits shared it is 74.2% (Ks Qh against Kh Js). That is a spread of 0.54 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 KQo 44.9%, KJo 21.6%, random 33.5%. KQo gives up 29 points and KJo gives up 4.5, 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, KQo is worth 61.5% against a random hand (rank 23 of 169) and KJo is worth 60.5% (rank 26). The gap between them in the ranking is only 1 points, yet head to head the gap is 47.8 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, KQo scoops roughly 71 pots, splits about 6, and loses the remaining 23. Against eight random opponents rather than this one specific hand, KQo would be down to 16.7% and KJo to 15.8%, so the shape of this particular confrontation matters far more than either hand's standing in the overall ranking.

From KJo's side, 26.1% is the break-even point for calling an all-in at 2.83:1 pot odds. Put another way, the call is profitable as long as the amount you have to put in is less than 26.1% of the pot you are playing for. KQo holds the other 73.9% 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 KJo really does hold exactly KJo; against the wider range a player would actually get all in with, KQo's 73.9% moves. Use the individual pages for KQo and KJo 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.

ConditionExampleCombosKQo EquityWinTieLose
No shared suitKs Qh vs Kd Jc2473.7%70.9%5.6%23.5%
One shared suitKs Qh vs Kh Jd7273.9%71.1%5.7%23.2%
Both suits sharedKs Qh vs Kh Js1274.2%71.3%5.8%22.9%
Three-way

Adding a random third hand

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

KQo
44.9%
vs heads-up -29.0pt
KJo
21.6%
vs heads-up -4.5pt
Random third hand
33.5%
Player count

At a bigger table

Random opponentsKQoKJo
161.5%60.5%
244.4%43.2%
429.2%27.9%
816.7%15.8%

Related

FAQ

KQo or KJo — which is ahead preflop?

KQo is the favourite. KQo takes 73.9% and KJo 26.1%, a margin of 47.8 points, with 5.7% of hands ending in a chop.

Do the suits change KQo vs KJo?

Yes. With no shared suit it is 73.7%, and with both suits shared it is 74.2% — a swing of up to 0.54 points.

What happens three-way?

With one extra random hand in the pot the split is KQo 44.9%, KJo 21.6%, random 33.5%. KQo drops 29 points compared with heads-up.

433 words / 27 distinct figures — Method