TT vs AK: what are the odds?

Tens quietly outperform queens and jacks in the same spot, and the reason is the ten itself: ace-king needs a queen, jack, and ten to make its only straight, and the tens hold two of them. Blocking Broadway is worth a real fraction of a percent, which is the kind of edge that means nothing in one hand and everything across a session of shoves. Everything else about the race is standard: six overcard outs twice for the ace-king, the pair ahead on every blank runout, and a result that feels random while favoring the tens every single time.

Quick tip: Middle pairs race better than they feel. The hands to fear preflop are bigger pairs, not big cards.

All numbers are all-in preflop equity vs one opponent, computed by the Poker Shark equity engine from the full 169 by 169 hand matrix, weighted across suited and offsuit combos.