Preflop Matchups
Who wins when the money goes in before the flop? Exact equity for every classic hand against hand battle, from AA vs KK to the coin flips.
Every all-in preflop is one of a few repeating shapes. A pair against a bigger pair is about 4-to-1. A pair against two overcards is a race the pair usually leads narrowly. When two big-card hands share a top card, the better kicker is close to a 3-to-1 favorite. Learn the handful of shapes below and you know the odds of nearly any preflop confrontation before the cards turn over.
Each matchup page shows the exact number, the suited and offsuit breakdown, why the equity lands where it does, and the mistake players make with each hand. Every figure is computed from the Poker Shark equity engine and baked into the page, weighted across all suit combinations. For any matchup not listed, run it in the equity calculator.
Pair against pair
The bigger pair is always around a 4-to-1 favorite, no matter which two pairs collide.
Pair against big cards
The races. A pair against two overcards is the most common all-in in poker, and it is closer than it feels.
Domination spots
Same high card, weaker kicker. These are the spots where a good-looking hand is quietly crushed.
Famous matchups
The matchups everyone argues about at the table.
Preflop matchup questions
What is the biggest favorite in a preflop all-in? +
Kings against king-deuce offsuit is the biggest edge between two starting hands, about 95% for the kings. The famous one is pocket aces against ace-king, where the aces win about 92% of the time. Between two pairs, the bigger pair always wins about 80 to 82% of the time, for example AA vs KK is 81.9% for the aces.
Is a pair against two overcards really a coin flip? +
Not quite. Against ace-king the pair is a small favorite: QQ vs AK is 56.1% for the queens, and every pair from deuces to queens wins between 52% and 56%. The closest of those to a true coin flip is 22 vs AK at roughly 52-48. Against lower overcards the edge can flip, and deuces win only about 46% against jack-ten suited.
How are these matchup numbers calculated? +
Every figure comes from the Poker Shark equity engine: all-in preflop equity vs one opponent, averaged over every suit combination of both hands, from the full 169 by 169 matrix of starting hand classes. Suited and offsuit versions are weighted by their real combo counts.
The odds are the easy part
Knowing you are 56% is nice. Getting opponents to stack off as the 44% is the skill. Train it against realistic villains.
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