AA vs a 20bb shoving range: Equity & Strategy

Pocket Aces (AA) has 84.4% equity all-in preflop against a 20bb shoving range — 164 combos, 12.4% of all starting hands. It wins 83.7% of runouts outright, loses 14.9% and chops 1.5%. 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, 121 of those 164 combos are still available (43 are blocked by the cards AA holds). AA is ahead of 120 and behind 1.

Hardest parts of the range for AA

Easiest parts of the range for AA

Put AA up against a 20bb shoving range — 164 combos, 12.4% of all hands — and the exact answer is 84.4% equity: 83.7% outright wins, 14.9% losses and 1.5% chops. Your own two cards remove 43 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 120 of the 121 combos you can still be facing (99%), which is what a 84.4% number actually looks like hand by hand.

The range behind this number is not a guess. 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. AA's worst spots in it are AA (50.0%), JTs (78.8%) and 88 (80.5%) — and its best are AKo (93.2%), AQo (92.7%) and AJo (92.3%). Across the whole range AA's equity swings from 50.0% at the bottom to 93.2% at the top — the single 84.4% headline is the combo-weighted average of all of it.

Against a 20bb shoving range (12.4% of hands), AA is a 84.4% proposition. You are the favourite, so the only question is whether the stack sizes and the payout ladder let you take the flip.

AA vs 20bb shove FAQ

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

AA has 84.4% equity all-in preflop against a 20bb shoving range — it wins 83.7% of runouts outright, loses 14.9% and chops 1.5%. The range holds 164 combos (12.4% of all hands); AA blocks 43 of them, leaving 121 live. This is exact full board enumeration, not a simulation.

Which hands in a 20bb shoving range beat AA?

AA is behind 1 of the 121 live combos and ahead of the other 120. The worst matchups are AA (50.0%), JTs (78.8%) and 88 (80.5%); its best are AKo (93.2%), AQo (92.7%) and AJo (92.3%). 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 AA runs at 84.4% against it rather than against a random hand.

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

Wider, almost always. AA has 84.3% equity against a loose-passive calling range (50.5% of hands) but 84.5% 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 · aa vs utg-open · aa vs mp-open · aa vs co-open · aa vs shove-10bb · kk vs shove-10bb · kk vs shove-20bb