This free poker equity calculator and trainer deals two hands all-in before the flop — guess how often the hero wins, then check your read against exact numbers. It's the quickest way to get comfortable calculating equity in poker and reading your true chance of winning.
Pair over pair is the classic ~4-to-1 favourite. Only a king (or running cards) saves the kings, so aces win about 82.6% of the time.
The textbook 'race': two overcards plus a flush draw against a pair. It's a hair worse than a coin flip — AKs wins about 46.2%.
Two overcards against the smallest pair is a near coin flip. The pair is a tiny favourite, so AK comes in around 47.4%.
A big pair that dominates the other hand — the AK only really wins by pairing its ace. Kings hold about 70%.
Pair versus two overcards and a flush draw — a coin flip that leans to the pair. Jacks win about 53.9%.
The suited connector is a real underdog but nowhere near dead — it makes straights and flushes the big cards can't. About 42.2%.
The best hand versus the worst hand. Even here the aces 'only' win about 87.4% — the 7-2 still gets there one time in eight.
You landed 0 / 7 within five points. Knowing these matchups cold is how you make instant all-in decisions.
Pre-flop all-ins are pure maths — knowing the common matchup equities lets you turn pot odds into an instant, correct call-or-fold decision.
When the money goes in before the flop, the hand stops being about reads and turns into cold poker math: your chance of winning against the price you're paying to call. A player who knows the common matchups makes these decisions in a heartbeat, while everyone else guesses. Get a feel for the numbers and you'll stop folding coin flips you should take and stop calling off drawing nearly dead — the two mistakes that quietly wreck short-stack and tournament play.
Almost every pre-flop all-in falls into one of three buckets. A race is roughly a coin flip — two overcards against a pair, around 45–57% either way. A domination is one hand crushing another that shares a card, like ace-king over ace-queen at about 74%. A cooler is pair-over-pair, near 82%. A quick glance at a starting hands chart shows which holdings reach these all-ins ahead, while the poker hand rankings chart confirms what beats what at showdown.
A handful of landmark numbers cover almost every pre-flop all-in you'll ever face. Learn these and you can eyeball the rest.
| Matchup | Favourite's equity | Nickname |
|---|---|---|
| Higher pair vs lower pair (AA vs KK) | ~82% | Cooler — you're stuck or crushing |
| Pair vs two overcards (TT vs AKo) | ~57% | Race — pair leans ahead |
| Two overcards vs small pair (AKo vs 22) | ~53% for the pair | Classic coin flip |
| Domination, shared card (AKo vs AQo) | ~74% | Domination |
| Pair vs one over, one under (99 vs A8o) | ~71% | Ahead — one card dominated |
| Two overcards vs two unders (AKo vs QJs) | ~60% | Ahead, both cards live |
| Suited connector vs overcards (76s vs AKo) | ~58% for AK | Underdog, far from dead |
Equities are for representative cards, enumerated over every board. Exact suits shift each figure a point or two through blockers, but the buckets — cooler, race, domination — always hold.
Five steps to slot any matchup into the right bucket and get within a couple of points of the true number.
The instant the cards flip, decide: cooler, race, or domination? That single label gets you within a few points of the real number before you calculate anything.
Memorise three numbers — pair over pair ≈ 82%, a race ≈ 50%, domination ≈ 74%. Almost every spot is a small adjustment off one of these anchors.
The underdog's hope is cards that aren't already 'dead'. Two clean overcards beat one; a suited connector adds straight and flush outs a pair can't make. More live outs, more equity.
All-in equity is only half the story — the blinds and antes already sitting in the middle are yours to fight for too. A 45% race is a snap-shove once that dead money is in the pot, because you're an underdog to win a pot you're already partly owed.
Your exact cards shift equity a point or two — sharing a suit or rank with your opponent removes their outs. It rarely changes the decision, but it's why textbook numbers wobble slightly.
You open-shove A♠ K♠ for 15 big blinds and get snap-called by pocket queens. Beginners react two ways, both wrong: 'ace-king, I'm crushed' or 'ace-king, easy call, I'm ahead.' The truth is neither — you're about 46% to win, a hair under a coin flip. And that's exactly why the shove was correct: with the blinds, antes and fold equity you picked up, risking your stack as a 46% underdog in a pot that's already partly yours is comfortably profitable. Knowing the number turns a scary all-in into a routine, clearly +EV decision.
Verdict — a slight underdog at showdown, but a clearly profitable shove with fold equity and dead moneyFix Pre-flop, AK is a drawing hand — unpaired, it has to improve. Against any pair it's a coin flip at best, not a lock.
Fix Ace-king over ace-queen is about 74/26, not 90/10. The dominated hand still wins a quarter of the time — don't get married to the spot.
Fix A 45–55% flip is usually a snap once there's dead money in the pot. Passing up profitable coin flips is a slow bleed in tournaments.
Fix 76s versus AK is a very different underdog than K9o versus AK — the suited connector's straight and flush outs are worth real equity.
Trust your gut on each flip first, then see how close the exact enumeration lands.
Pocket aces are all-in against pocket kings pre-flop. Roughly how often do the aces win?
Pair-over-pair is a cooler: the aces win about 82% of the time. Only a king (or a runner-runner miracle) rescues the kings.
Ace-king suited is all-in against pocket queens pre-flop. Who's the favourite?
It's the classic race. The made pair is a small favourite at about 54%, so ace-king suited comes in around 46% — close enough that fold equity usually makes getting it in correct.
You're all-in with ace-king offsuit against pocket deuces. Best description?
Two overcards versus the smallest pair is almost dead even — the pair is a tiny favourite, so ace-king wins about 47%. It's a flip, not a disaster.
You scored 0 / 3. The more you drill this, the faster the maths becomes instinct.
Your share of the pot right now — essentially your probability of winning (plus half of any ties) if all the remaining cards were dealt out. If you're 46% to win a $100 pot, your equity in it is $46.
Yes — each one is computed by evaluating every possible five-card board for those exact two hands, so it's the true equity, not an estimate. Generic matchups (e.g. 'AK vs QQ' with different suits) vary by a point or two due to blockers.
Ace-king is unpaired, so it hasn't made a hand yet — it needs to pair up or make a straight/flush. The pair is already a made hand, so it starts ahead and stays ahead unless the overcards improve.
Yes. Every extra player in the pot lowers everyone's equity, and multiway all-ins get complicated fast. The trainer's numbers are all heads-up, one hand against one hand.