99 vs a 20bb shoving range: Equity & Strategy

Pocket Nines (99) has 52.4% equity all-in preflop against a 20bb shoving range — 164 combos, 12.4% of all starting hands. It wins 51.9% of runouts outright, loses 47.1% and chops 1.1%. These are exact figures from full board enumeration against every unblocked combo in the range, not a simulation.

The range this is computed against

Double the stack, half the range. At twenty big blinds a jam risks far more chips to win the same blinds and antes, so the push collapses to hands that are happy to be called: 55+, the strong suited aces plus the wheel aces, suited broadways and ATo+. Around 12% of hands.

20bb shove — 164 combos, 12.4% of all starting hands: AA, KK, QQ, JJ, TT, 99, 88, 77, 66, 55, AKs, AQs, AJs, ATs, A9s, A5s, A4s, KQs, KJs, QJs, JTs, AKo, AQo, AJo, ATo, KQo

After card removal, 157 of those 164 combos are still available (7 are blocked by the cards 99 holds). 99 is ahead of 126 and behind 31.

Hardest parts of the range for 99

Easiest parts of the range for 99

99 has 52.4% equity all-in preflop against a 20bb shoving range — 164 combos, 12.4% of all hands. Pocket Nines wins the pot outright 51.9% of the time, loses 47.1% and chops 1.1%. Your own two cards remove 7 of those combos before the flop is even dealt — a blocker effect this number already accounts for, because every combo containing one of your exact cards is stripped out of the range first. You are ahead of 126 of the 157 combos you can still be facing (80%), which is what a 52.4% number actually looks like hand by hand.

Double the stack, half the range. At twenty big blinds a jam risks far more chips to win the same blinds and antes, so the push collapses to hands that are happy to be called: 55+, the strong suited aces plus the wheel aces, suited broadways and ATo+. Around 12% of hands. Inside that range, the combos that hurt 99 most are TT (18.0%), JJ (18.4%) and QQ (18.8%); the ones you want to see are 88 (81.9%), 77 (81.6%) and 66 (81.2%). Across the whole range 99's equity swings from 18.0% at the bottom to 81.9% at the top — the single 52.4% headline is the combo-weighted average of all of it.

Against a 20bb shoving range (12.4% of hands), 99 is a 52.4% proposition. You are the favourite, so the only question is whether the stack sizes and the payout ladder let you take the flip.

99 vs 20bb shove FAQ

What is 99's equity against a 20bb shoving range?

99 has 52.4% equity all-in preflop against a 20bb shoving range — it wins 51.9% of runouts outright, loses 47.1% and chops 1.1%. The range holds 164 combos (12.4% of all hands); 99 blocks 7 of them, leaving 157 live. This is exact full board enumeration, not a simulation.

Which hands in a 20bb shoving range beat 99?

99 is behind 31 of the 157 live combos and ahead of the other 126. The worst matchups are TT (18.0%), JJ (18.4%) and QQ (18.8%); its best are 88 (81.9%), 77 (81.6%) and 66 (81.2%). Every figure is exact, computed against that hand's unblocked combos only.

What hands are in a 20bb shoving range?

26 hand classes and 164 combos — 12.4% of the 1,326 possible starting hands. By combo count it is 37% pocket pairs (10 pairs, 60 combos), 27% suited hands (11 classes, 44 combos) and 37% offsuit hands (5 classes, 60 combos). That shape is why 99 runs at 52.4% against it rather than against a random hand.

Does 99 do better against a wider or a tighter range?

Wider, almost always. 99 has 64.9% equity against a loose-passive calling range (50.5% of hands) but 41.6% against a 4-betting range (3.2%). Equity against a range is mostly a question of how many weak hands the range still contains — which is why the same holding can be a monster against a button open and a fold against a 4-bet.

Run any hand vs range in the free equity calculator · All hand-vs-range matchups · 99 vs utg-open · 99 vs mp-open · 99 vs co-open · aa vs shove-10bb · aa vs shove-20bb · kk vs shove-10bb