Texas Hold’em starting hand odds and matchups
There are 1,326 two-card starting hands in Hold’em. Knowing how often each comes and how it fares against others is the base of every preflop decision.
Reviewed Oct 14, 2026
Answer first
90s| Starting hand | Chance per deal | About 1 in |
|---|---|---|
| Pocket aces | 0.45% | 221 |
| Any specific pair | 0.45% | 221 |
| Any pocket pair | 5.88% | 17 |
| Ace-king (any) | 1.21% | 83 |
| Ace-king suited | 0.30% | 332 |
| Any suited hand | 23.5% | 4.25 |
| Any two suited connectors | 3.92% | 25.5 |
Key numbers
Preflop numbers worth knowing
In short
Key takeaways
- Big pairs are rare. Expect pocket aces about once every 221 hands.
- Most all-in matchups before the flop are closer than they feel: a pair against two higher cards is about 55% to 45%.
- Suited cards add only about 2–3% equity over the same cards offsuit.
- A small pair needs to hit a set to win big pots, and that happens about one flop in eight and a half.
Cheat sheet
Classic preflop matchups
Glance the faces — compare in one second.
1AA vs KK
About 82% vs 18%
2QQ vs AK
About 54% vs 46% — a coin flip
3AK vs AQ
About 74% vs 24% — the kicker matters
422 vs AK
About 52% vs 48% — the small pair is a slight favorite
Percentages are all-in equity before the flop, rounded, with remaining ties not shown.
Common all-in matchups
| Matchup | Favorite | Equity |
|---|---|---|
| Higher pair vs lower pair | Higher pair | About 80% |
| Pair vs two overcards | Pair | About 55% |
| Pair vs one overcard | Pair | About 70% |
| Dominated ace (AK vs AQ) | Better kicker | About 74% |
| Two overcards vs two undercards | Overcards | About 63% |
Use these as rough guides. Suits and connectedness move the numbers a few points.
Playbook · Beginner
Using the numbers at the table
Tip 01
Count combinations
There are 6 ways to be dealt any pair and 16 ways to be dealt AK.
Tip 02
Remove what you see
If you hold an ace, only 3 AA combinations remain for an opponent.
Tip 03
Compare with pot odds
If you need 33% equity to call and you have 45%, calling is profitable.
Tip 04
Respect position
The same hand plays worse from early seats because more players act after you.
Why combinations matter
A player who raises big might hold AA, KK or AK. There are 6 combinations of AA, 6 of KK and 16 of AK, so AK is the most likely of the three.
If you hold an ace yourself, AA drops to 3 combinations and AK to 12. Blockers like this shift what your opponent can have.
Good players think in ranges of hands, not single hands. Counting combinations is the simplest way to start.
Floor rules
Preflop terms
Know before you sit
- Pocket pair
- Two hole cards of the same rank.
- Suited connector
- Two cards of the same suit next to each other in rank, such as 8♥9♥.
- Overcard
- A card higher than the pair or the board.
- Dominated
- Sharing a card with a better hand, such as AQ against AK.
- Equity
- Your share of the pot if all cards were dealt out, on average.
How often premium hands come
Pocket aces, kings, queens or ace-king together make up 34 of 1,326 combinations, about 2.6% of hands. That is roughly one premium hand every 39 deals.
At a live table dealing 30 hands an hour, expect one of these a little less than once an hour. Patience matters more than chasing marginal hands.
Keep reading
Related pages
Go play
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Tap a resort — each row opens that casino’s White Gambling page (hours, poker status, floor facts). Print poker rooms, sorted by published table count.
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Questions before and after you play
A 90-second guide cannot cover every table moment. Tap a group, then a question — answers are short paragraphs, not one-liners.
01Starting hands
What are the odds of getting pocket aces?
1 in 221 per hand, or about 0.45%. There are 6 ways to be dealt two aces out of 1,326 possible starting hands. At 30 hands an hour, that is roughly once every seven hours.
What are the odds of being dealt a pocket pair?
About 5.88%, or 1 in 17 hands. There are 13 ranks and 6 combinations of each, so 78 pair combinations out of 1,326.
Who wins more, AK or QQ?
Queens win about 54% of the time all-in before the flop; AK wins about 46%. It is close enough that players call it a coin flip.
How often does a pocket pair hit a set?
About 11.8% of the time on the flop, or 1 in 8.5. By the river it is about 19%. Small pairs rely on sets to win big pots.
How much do suited cards help?
Being suited adds about 2–3% equity compared with the same cards offsuit. It helps, but it does not turn a weak hand into a strong one.
What is the worst starting hand?
7-2 offsuit is usually called the worst, because it cannot make a straight with both cards and has low high-card value. It still wins about 32% against one random hand.
02At the table
How many starting hands are there in Hold’em?
1,326 combinations of two cards, which group into 169 distinct types: 13 pairs, 78 suited and 78 offsuit hands.
03More questions
What are the odds of two players both getting aces?
Very low. At a 9-handed table, the chance that any two players both hold pocket aces on a deal is roughly 1 in 300,000 or so. Aces versus kings is far more common, which is why it is a famous cooler.
Sources
- Wizard of Odds — Texas Hold’em odds Not from a registry (Reference source, not an official registry)The gaming industry’s standard reference for casino-game math, by actuary Michael Shackleford. Not an official registry; our calculators compute these numbers independently. · accessed Oct 14, 2026Starting hand and matchup probabilities
- Nevada Gaming Control Board · accessed Oct 14, 2026Poker room licensing in Nevada
- National Council on Problem Gambling — Help and resources Not from a registry (Reference source, not an official registry) · accessed Oct 14, 2026Free, confidential help: call or text 1-800-GAMBLER
- American Gaming Association — Research Not from a registry (Reference source, not an official registry) · accessed Oct 14, 2026US casino and sports betting industry data