KQo vs QJo
Domination — a shared rank turns this into a kicker fight, and kicker fights are lopsided.
- KQo Win
- 73.0%
- Tie
- 2.5%
- KQo Lose
- 24.6%
- Card combinations
- 108
- KQo vs random
- 61.5% · #23
- QJo vs random
- 58.0% · #39
Win, tie and loss for KQo
When KQo and QJo get all in before the flop, KQo wins 74.2% of the time and QJo takes 25.8%. Broken down, KQo wins outright 73.0%, chops 2.5% and loses 24.6% — a margin of 48.4 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 73.6% (for example Ks Qh against Qd Jc); with both suits shared it is 74.8% (Ks Qh against Qs Jh). That is a spread of 1.25 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 45.4%, QJo 22.1%, random 32.5%. KQo gives up 28.7 points and QJo gives up 3.7, 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 QJo is worth 58.0% (rank 39). The gap between them in the ranking is only 3.5 points, yet head to head the gap is 48.4 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 73 pots, splits about 2, and loses the remaining 25. Against eight random opponents rather than this one specific hand, KQo would be down to 16.7% and QJo to 15.2%, so the shape of this particular confrontation matters far more than either hand's standing in the overall ranking.
From QJo's side, 25.8% is the break-even point for calling an all-in at 2.88:1 pot odds. Put another way, the call is profitable as long as the amount you have to put in is less than 25.8% of the pot you are playing for. KQo holds the other 74.2% 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 QJo really does hold exactly QJo; against the wider range a player would actually get all in with, KQo's 74.2% moves. Use the individual pages for KQo and QJo 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 | KQo Equity | Win | Tie | Lose |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No shared suit | Ks Qh vs Qd Jc | 24 | 73.6% | 72.4% | 2.4% | 25.2% |
| One shared suit | Ks Qh vs Qs Jd | 72 | 74.3% | 73.0% | 2.5% | 24.5% |
| Both suits shared | Ks Qh vs Qs Jh | 12 | 74.8% | 73.5% | 2.6% | 23.9% |
Adding a random third hand
200,000 simulated showdowns, with the third hand dealt at random each time.
At a bigger table
| Random opponents | KQo | QJo |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 61.5% | 58.0% |
| 2 | 44.4% | 41.2% |
| 4 | 29.2% | 27.1% |
| 8 | 16.7% | 15.2% |
Related
FAQ
KQo or QJo — which is ahead preflop?
KQo is the favourite. KQo takes 74.2% and QJo 25.8%, a margin of 48.4 points, with 2.5% of hands ending in a chop.
Do the suits change KQo vs QJo?
Yes. With no shared suit it is 73.6%, and with both suits shared it is 74.8% — a swing of up to 1.25 points.
What happens three-way?
With one extra random hand in the pot the split is KQo 45.4%, QJo 22.1%, random 32.5%. KQo drops 28.7 points compared with heads-up.
433 words / 29 distinct figures — Method