Poker Equity Calculator

Calculate pre-flop equity in heads-up Texas Hold'em matchups. This educational tool shows you the exact mathematical edge one hand has over another before any community cards are dealt, helping you understand why certain hands dominate and others are drawing dead.

Famous Pre-Flop Matchups

Click any matchup to load it into the calculator:

Understanding Poker Equity

Equity in poker refers to your mathematical share of the pot based on your probability of winning the hand. According to PokerStrategy.com, understanding equity is one of the most fundamental concepts in poker mathematics and essential for making profitable decisions.

Pre-flop equity calculations assume the hand will be played to showdown with no further betting decisions. While real poker involves complex post-flop play, knowing your pre-flop equity helps you understand:

• Why certain hands dominate others: AK vs AQ isn't close to 50/50 because of the shared ace
• The "coin flip" myth: Pairs vs overcards are rarely exactly 50/50
• Suited vs unsuited: The ~3-4% equity boost from being suited adds up over thousands of hands
• Why position matters mathematically: Better equity realization with position

Matchup Categories

Poker hands generally fall into predictable matchup categories. Research from the Card Player poker strategy database shows these common patterns:

Why Suited Cards Matter

Being suited typically adds 3-4% to your equity, which might seem small but becomes significant over thousands of hands. According to Upswing Poker, this equity boost comes from flush draw possibilities that give you additional ways to win the pot.

The mathematics behind this involve combinatorics:

• With suited cards, you can make a flush if three of your suit appear on the board
• There are 11 remaining cards of your suit in the deck
• The probability of making a flush by the river is approximately 6.5%
• This flush potential adds equity even when you don't actually make it

Pre-Flop vs Post-Flop Equity

This calculator shows pre-flop equity, but it's important to understand that equity changes dramatically as community cards are revealed. A hand with 80% pre-flop equity might be drawing dead after an unfavorable flop.

For understanding how equity shifts during a hand, our Poker Outs Calculator helps you calculate pot odds and drawing equity on later streets.

Equity Realization

Not all equity is created equal. "Equity realization" refers to how much of your theoretical equity you actually capture in real play. Factors affecting realization include:

• Position: In-position hands realize more equity (acting last gives information)
• Stack depth: Deeper stacks favor speculative hands that can win big pots
• Player skill: Skilled players realize more equity through better post-flop decisions
• Hand playability: Connected and suited hands play easier post-flop

The Mathematics Behind the Calculator

This calculator uses Monte Carlo simulation to estimate equity. It simulates thousands of random runouts (the five community cards) and counts how often each hand wins. This method, documented in academic research from Carnegie Mellon University on poker simulation, provides accurate equity estimates within approximately 0.5%.

The process works as follows:

1. Remove the four known cards (both players' hole cards) from the deck
2. Randomly deal five community cards from the remaining 48 cards
3. Evaluate both players' best five-card hand from their seven available cards
4. Record which hand wins (or if it's a tie)
5. Repeat thousands of times and calculate win percentages

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