Q♠9♠

Q9s

Queen-9 suited

Rank
45of 169
Equity vs random
57.3%
Combinations
4
Better than
76.5%

Q9s ranks 45 out of the 169 starting hands in Hold'em. Against a random hand it wins 57.3% of the time, which puts it ahead of 76.5% of all possible deals once the deck is sorted by that equity. It comes with 4 of the 1,326 possible combinations — 0.3% of the hands you will be dealt.

How to play it before the flop

The fundamentals charts open it from the cutoff for 2.5bb, and from the button as well. If the button opens and you are in the big blind, the chart says fold.

A gap costs straights. Same idea as the connector — draws, not high card — with fewer ways to complete them, which is why it lives on the edge of the button opening range. Against that button range it has 44.6%. With a gap, be pickier: position always, and ideally with stacks left to get paid on the draw.

What this hand makes

You pair one of your two cards on 32.4% of flops. You flop a flush draw 10.9% of the time and a made flush 0.84%; seeing all five cards, you end up with a flush 6.5% of the time. An open-ended straight draw shows up on 4.0% of flops. Going to the river every time, the hand ends up as pair 42.2% of the time and stays high card 17.2%.

You pair a card 32.4%
Flush draw 10.9%
Flopped flush 0.84%
Open-ended straight draw 4.0%
Gutshot straight draw 13.4%

Where it ends up if you see all five cards

High card 17.2%
Pair 42.2%
Two pair 22.0%
Three of a kind 4.3%
Straight 5.4%
Flush 6.5%
Full house 2.2%
Four of a kind 0.13%
Straight flush 0.11%

Exact enumeration, no sampling: the flop events run through all 19,600 possible flops and the final distribution through all 2,118,760 five-card boards. The distribution assumes you always reach the river, so it describes the hand’s potential rather than a real session, where most hands are folded earlier. Open-ended includes double gutshots (two distinct ranks complete it).

Against the reference ranges

Range Notation Your equity
UTG opening range 77+, ATs+, KQs, AJo+, KQo 33.9%
MP opening range 66+, A9s+, KTs+, QJs, ATo+, KQo 34.9%
Cutoff opening range 22+, A4s+, K9s+, Q9s+, J9s+, T9s, 98s, A9o+, KTo+, QTo+, JTo 39.7%
Button opening range 22+, A2s+, K5s+, Q7s+, J8s+, T8s+, 97s+, 86s+, 75s+, 65s, 54s, A2o+, K9o+, Q9o+, J9o+, T9o 44.6%
Big blind 3-bet range TT+, AQs+, A5s-A4s, AKo 31.2%
Big blind calling range 22-99, A2s-AJs, KTs+, QTs+, J9s+, T8s+, 97s+, 86s+, 76s, 65s, ATo+, KJo+, QJo 44.1%

Equity if the hand goes to the river against an opponent holding exactly that range. 120,000-hand Monte Carlo with a fixed seed, computed by our engine.

Hand versus hand

Q9s against AA 19.5% behind
Q9s against KK 18.4% behind
Q9s against QQ 14.5% behind
Q9s against AKs 36.4% behind
Q9s against JTs 56.4% favourite
Q9s against 72o 70.2% favourite

These are not estimates: they are the exact enumeration of all 1,712,304 possible boards for each matchup. Suited hands are matched up in different suits.

Similar hands

All starting hands