KK vs AK: who wins?

Pocket kings beat ace-king about 69% of the time when the money goes in preflop.

68.9%

KK

vs

31.1%

AK

Favorite

KK · 68.9%

Underdog

AK · 31.1%

Odds

~2.2-to-1

Matchup type

Pair against big cards

By suits

KK vs AKs: 65.9%KK vs AKo: 69.9%

This matchup is all about blockers. The kings hold two of the kings ace-king would love to pair, so the AK is really playing three aces as its outs. That pushes kings well past the usual race numbers without reaching pair-versus-pair territory: call it 2-to-1 and a bit. It is also one of the most common big all-ins in poker, because both hands re-raise relentlessly and neither can imagine folding. If you hold the kings, you are happy every time. Ace-king gets there about three times in ten, and it is usually an ace landing that does it.

Quick tip: Two players re-raising hard preflop usually means exactly this collision or a bigger pair. Kings against AK is the good outcome.

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.