Ace-King vs a Pocket Pair: Who Wins? Exact Odds
Ace-king is never the favorite against a pocket pair — but it's almost never crushed either. Against every pair from 22 to QQ, AK holds between 43.8% and 48.0% equity (a race). Against KK it drops to 31.1%, and against AA just 8.2% — that's domination, not a race.
AK against every pocket pair
| Pocket pair | AK equity (any suits) | AKs | AKo | Full page |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AA | 8.16% | 12.14% | 6.83% | AA vs AK → |
| KK | 31.12% | 34.11% | 30.12% | AK vs KK → |
| 43.94% | 46.05% | 43.24% | AK vs QQ → | |
| JJ | 43.85% | 45.96% | 43.15% | AK vs JJ → |
| TT | 43.83% | 45.94% | 43.12% | AK vs TT → |
| 99 | 45.40% | 47.42% | 44.73% | AK vs 99 → |
| 88 | 45.51% | 47.52% | 44.84% | — |
| 77 | 45.68% | 47.69% | 45.02% | — |
| 66 | 45.68% | 47.69% | 45.01% | — |
| 55 | 46.05% | 48.03% | 45.38% | — |
| 44 | 46.62% | 48.59% | 45.97% | — |
| 33 | 47.27% | 49.21% | 46.62% | — |
| 22 | 47.99% | 49.89% | 47.35% | 22 vs AK → |
Equity is ace-king's share of the pot, all-in preflop, ties split. Every figure is an exact enumeration across all suit configurations — no simulation.
A race against eleven pairs, a beating by two
Against pairs that don't share its ranks (22–QQ), ace-king has six live outs plus straight and flush potential — one of its overcards reaches the board 50.3% of the time, which is why every one of those matchups sits near the flip line. Its best matchup is 22 (48.0%) and its worst race is against TT (43.8%), because bigger pairs block AK's broadway straight cards. KK and AA are a different sport: they turn AK's own ranks against it, and the "race" becomes 31.1% and 8.2%. Before you snap-call a shove with AK, the only question that really matters is how often villain shows up with exactly those two hands.
- The race band is remarkably narrow: from deuces to queens, AK's all-suits equity never leaves the 43.8%–48.0% window. Which specific pair you're flipping against barely matters.
- The cliff is at kings: AK's equity falls from 43.9% vs QQ to 31.1% vs KK and 8.2% vs AA. The moment the pair shares one of AK's ranks, card removal kills half (or all) of its pairing outs.
- Being suited adds about 3.0 points on average across all thirteen pairs — real money in an all-in, but never enough to make AK the favorite.
How it was calculated
Exact enumeration, not simulation: for every suit configuration above, all 1,712,304 possible five-card boards were dealt and both hands scored with app/lib/poker-eval.js — the same 7-card evaluator behind /tools/odds-calculator. Ties split the pot, so equity is win% plus half the tie%. Computed 2026-07-27.
Don't take our word for it — run AK vs a Pocket Pair yourself in the odds calculator and watch the Monte Carlo estimate converge on these numbers.
Frequently asked questions
Is AK a favorite against pocket pairs?+
No — against every pocket pair AK is at best even. It gets 43.8%–48.0% against pairs 22 through QQ, 31.1% against KK, and 8.2% against AA. Suited AK does about 3.0 points better than offsuit on average.
Which pocket pair is best against AK?+
AA, at 91.8% — it turns AK's pairing outs into losers. Among the "race" pairs, TT does best (56.2%) and 22 does worst (52.0%), mainly due to broadway blockers.
Should you get AK all-in preflop?+
The equity table is only half the answer — the other half is villain's range. Against a range of pairs 22–QQ plus worse aces, AK is in fine shape; against a range of exactly KK and AA it's being beaten badly. That's a range question, so build villain's shoving range in our range equity calculator rather than memorizing a single number.