Hand vs Hand Odds
Before the flop, two Texas Hold'em hands fall into a handful of repeating shapes — a pair against a lower pair, a pair against two overcards, a dominated ace, and so on. Learn these and you'll know roughly where you stand the moment the cards are dealt. The figures below are rounded; plug any two hands into the equity calculator for the exact number.
The five matchup shapes
Almost every pre-flop confrontation between two known hands is one of these. The percentages are each hand's equity — its share of the pot played to showdown many times.
| Matchup | Shape | Approx. equity |
|---|---|---|
| Pair vs. lower pair — e.g. A♠A♣ vs. K♠K♣ | Pair dominates | ~82% / 18% |
| Pair vs. two undercards — e.g. A♠A♣ vs. K♥Q♥ | Crushing | ~87% / 13% |
| Big pair vs. one overcard — e.g. K♠K♣ vs. A♠Q♦ | Pair favoured | ~70% / 30% |
| Pair vs. two overcards — e.g. Q♠Q♣ vs. A♠K♦ | "Coin flip" / race | ~54% / 46% |
| Domination — e.g. A♠K♣ vs. A♥Q♦ | Shared ace | ~70% / 25% (≈5% tie) |
Pair vs. lower pair
A higher pair against a lower one is the most lopsided common matchup that isn't a near-certainty: the bigger pair wins about four times out of five. The underdog is essentially drawing to hit one of its two remaining cards (about two outs) or back into a straight or flush. A♠A♣ vs. K♠K♣ is the textbook ~82% / 18%.
The coin flip (pair vs. two overcards)
A pair against two higher cards — Q♠Q♣ vs. A♠K♦ — is the famous race: the pair is made now, the two overcards have six outs to pair up and lots of straight and flush potential, and it comes out close to 54% / 46% in the pair's favour. These spots decide tournaments; neither player should be unhappy to get the chips in.
Domination
Two hands that share a card — A♠K♣ vs. A♥Q♦ — are dominated: the weaker kicker is in deep trouble because pairing the shared ace helps both hands equally, leaving the kicker to do all the work. The dominating hand wins around 70%, loses about 25%, and the rest are split pots. This is why a hand like A♦J♣ is dangerous: it's often the one being dominated.
The live underdog
Not every underdog is dead. Suited connectors against two big cards — 7♥6♥ vs. A♠K♣ — are only about 41% / 59%, because the small suited hand makes straights and flushes the big cards can't. Cards that work together are worth far more than their rank suggests.
How a hand fares against a random hand
Against a single unknown hand, the strongest starting hands hold up like this (approximate, all-in pre-flop, headed to showdown):
| Hand | Approx. equity vs. one random hand |
|---|---|
| A♠A♣ (any pair of aces) | ~85% |
| K♠K♣ | ~82% |
| Q♠Q♣ | ~80% |
| J♠J♣ | ~77% |
| A♠K♠ (suited) | ~67% |
| A♠K♦ (offsuit) | ~65% |
| 2♠2♣ (the smallest pair) | ~50% |
| 7♦2♣ (the worst hand) | ~35% |
Even a tiny pair is a coin flip against a random hand — and the gap between the best and worst starting hands is smaller than people expect, which is exactly why post-flop play matters so much.
Suited vs. offsuit
Being suited is worth roughly 2–4% of extra equity over the same cards offsuit — small, but it tilts marginal hands from foldable to playable and adds the flush outs that turn the live-underdog spots above into genuine money-makers.
Every figure here is rounded and ignores small suit effects. For the exact number in any spot — including three-, four-, or ten-way pots the tables above can't cover — deal the hands into the calculator: post-flop it enumerates every remaining board for an exact answer, and pre-flop it runs a Monte Carlo simulation accurate to a fraction of a percent.