AJ vs a 20bb shoving range: Equity & Strategy

Ace-Jack (AJ) has 47.1% equity all-in preflop against a 20bb shoving range — 164 combos, 12.4% of all starting hands. It wins 42.6% of runouts outright, loses 48.5% and chops 8.9%. 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, 133 of those 164 combos are still available (31 are blocked by the cards AJ holds). AJ is ahead of 53 and behind 80.

Hardest parts of the range for AJ

Easiest parts of the range for AJ

Against a 20bb shoving range (164 combos, 12.4% of all hands), AJ runs at 47.1%. It wins 42.6% of runouts outright, loses 48.5% and splits the remaining 8.9%. Your own two cards remove 31 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 only 53 of the 133 combos still live (40%) — the rest of the range is level with or in front of you, which is why the figure sits below even money.

Where does the range come from? 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. Broken down hand by hand, AJ does worst against AA (9.0%), AKs (25.9%) and AQs (26.1%) and best against ATo (73.1%), KJs (70.5%) and QJs (69.1%). Across the whole range AJ's equity swings from 9.0% at the bottom to 73.1% at the top — the single 47.1% headline is the combo-weighted average of all of it.

Calling a shove is a pure equity question — there is no postflop skill left — so 47.1% is the entire decision. Against a typical pot laying you better than 2-to-1 with blinds and antes in the middle, 47.1% is a call.

AJ vs 20bb shove FAQ

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

AJ has 47.1% equity all-in preflop against a 20bb shoving range — it wins 42.6% of runouts outright, loses 48.5% and chops 8.9%. The range holds 164 combos (12.4% of all hands); AJ blocks 31 of them, leaving 133 live. This is exact full board enumeration, not a simulation.

Which hands in a 20bb shoving range beat AJ?

AJ is behind 80 of the 133 live combos and ahead of the other 53. The worst matchups are AA (9.0%), AKs (25.9%) and AQs (26.1%); its best are ATo (73.1%), KJs (70.5%) and QJs (69.1%). 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 AJ runs at 47.1% against it rather than against a random hand.

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

Wider, almost always. AJ has 61.1% equity against a loose-passive calling range (50.5% of hands) but 33.5% 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 · aj vs utg-open · aj vs mp-open · aj vs co-open · aa vs shove-10bb · aa vs shove-20bb · kk vs shove-10bb