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KQs vs 44

KQs
VS
44
50.1%
equity for KQs — 44 takes 49.9%

Pair against two overcards — the classic coinflip, with the pair a shade ahead.

KQs Win
49.8%
Tie
0.7%
KQs Lose
49.5%
Card combinations
24
KQs vs random
63.4% · #16
44 vs random
57.0% · #48
Breakdown

Win, tie and loss for KQs

Win 49.8%Lose 49.5%

When KQs and 44 get all in before the flop, KQs wins 50.1% of the time and 44 takes 49.9%. Broken down, KQs wins outright 49.8%, chops 0.7% and loses 49.5% — a margin of 0.2 points. Pair against two overcards — the classic coinflip, with the pair a shade ahead.

The same matchup shifts depending on how the suits overlap. With one shared suit the number is 49.9% (for example Ks Qs against 4s 4h); with no shared suit it is 50.3% (Ks Qs against 4h 4d). That is a spread of 0.42 points across the 24 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 KQs 42.2%, 44 33.7%, random 24.1%. KQs gives up 7.9 points and 44 gives up 16.2, so the underdog loses more than the favourite does. Extra players always eat into the leader's share faster than into anyone else's.

Taken on their own, KQs is worth 63.4% against a random hand (rank 16 of 169) and 44 is worth 57.0% (rank 48). The gap between them in the ranking is only 6.4 points, yet head to head the gap is 0.2 points, which is roughly what the ranking table predicts.

Framed as a run of one hundred identical all-ins, KQs scoops roughly 50 pots, splits about one, and loses the remaining 50. Against eight random opponents rather than this one specific hand, KQs would be down to 20.4% and 44 to 13.1%, so the shape of this particular confrontation matters far more than either hand's standing in the overall ranking.

From 44's side, 49.9% is the break-even point for calling an all-in at 1:1 pot odds. Put another way, the call is profitable as long as the amount you have to put in is less than 49.9% of the pot you are playing for. KQs holds the other 50.1% of that same pot.

Two caveats keep this figure honest. First, it is showdown equity across all 24 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 44 really does hold exactly 44; against the wider range a player would actually get all in with, KQs's 50.1% moves. Use the individual pages for KQs and 44 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.

ConditionExampleCombosKQs EquityWinTieLose
No shared suitKs Qs vs 4h 4d1250.3%50.0%0.6%49.4%
One shared suitKs Qs vs 4s 4h1249.9%49.6%0.7%49.7%
Three-way

Adding a random third hand

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

KQs
42.2%
vs heads-up -7.9pt
44
33.7%
vs heads-up -16.2pt
Random third hand
24.1%
Player count

At a bigger table

Random opponentsKQs44
163.4%57.0%
247.2%37.0%
432.3%20.7%
820.4%13.1%

Related

FAQ

KQs or 44 — which is ahead preflop?

KQs is the favourite. KQs takes 50.1% and 44 49.9%, a margin of 0.2 points, with 0.7% of hands ending in a chop.

Do the suits change KQs vs 44?

Yes. With one shared suit it is 49.9%, and with no shared suit it is 50.3% — a swing of up to 0.42 points.

What happens three-way?

With one extra random hand in the pot the split is KQs 42.2%, 44 33.7%, random 24.1%. KQs drops 7.9 points compared with heads-up.

424 words / 27 distinct figures — Method