AK vs a middle-position opening range: Equity & Strategy

Ace-King (AK) has 59.3% equity all-in preflop against a middle-position opening range — 258 combos, 19.5% of all starting hands. It wins 56.5% of runouts outright, loses 37.9% and chops 5.6%. These are exact figures from full board enumeration against every unblocked combo in the range, not a simulation.

The range this is computed against

With one fewer player left to act, middle position adds the rest of the suited aces, the suited one-gappers and a second layer of offsuit broadways (ATo, KJo) to the UTG chart — about 19% of hands.

MP open — 258 combos, 19.5% of all starting hands: AA, KK, QQ, JJ, TT, 99, 88, 77, 66, 55, 44, 33, 22, AKs, AQs, AJs, ATs, A9s, A8s, A7s, A6s, A5s, A4s, A3s, A2s, KQs, KJs, KTs, K9s, QJs, QTs, Q9s, JTs, J9s, T9s, T8s, 98s, 87s, 76s, 65s, AKo, AQo, AJo, ATo, KQo, KJo

After card removal, 215 of those 258 combos are still available (43 are blocked by the cards AK holds). AK is ahead of 141 and behind 74.

Hardest parts of the range for AK

Easiest parts of the range for AK

Against a middle-position opening range (258 combos, 19.5% of all hands), AK runs at 59.3%. It wins 56.5% of runouts outright, loses 37.9% and splits the remaining 5.6%. 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 141 of the 215 combos you can still be facing (66%), which is what a 59.3% number actually looks like hand by hand.

Where does the range come from? With one fewer player left to act, middle position adds the rest of the suited aces, the suited one-gappers and a second layer of offsuit broadways (ATo, KJo) to the UTG chart — about 19% of hands. Broken down hand by hand, AK does worst against AA (8.2%), KK (31.1%) and TT (43.8%) and best against KQo (75.0%), KJo (74.7%) and AQo (74.7%). Across the whole range AK's equity swings from 8.2% at the bottom to 75.0% at the top — the single 59.3% headline is the combo-weighted average of all of it.

The practical read on 59.3% against a middle-position opening range: you can 3-bet for value or flat in position, but this is not a stack-off-preflop holding against a 19.5% opener.

AK vs MP open FAQ

What is AK's equity against a middle-position opening range?

AK has 59.3% equity all-in preflop against a middle-position opening range — it wins 56.5% of runouts outright, loses 37.9% and chops 5.6%. The range holds 258 combos (19.5% of all hands); AK blocks 43 of them, leaving 215 live. This is exact full board enumeration, not a simulation.

Which hands in a middle-position opening range beat AK?

AK is behind 74 of the 215 live combos and ahead of the other 141. The worst matchups are AA (8.2%), KK (31.1%) and TT (43.8%); its best are KQo (75.0%), KJo (74.7%) and AQo (74.7%). Every figure is exact, computed against that hand's unblocked combos only.

What hands are in a middle-position opening range?

46 hand classes and 258 combos — 19.5% of the 1,326 possible starting hands. By combo count it is 30% pocket pairs (13 pairs, 78 combos), 42% suited hands (27 classes, 108 combos) and 28% offsuit hands (6 classes, 72 combos). That shape is why AK runs at 59.3% against it rather than against a random hand.

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

Wider, almost always. AK has 64.5% equity against a loose-passive calling range (50.5% of hands) but 46.1% 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 · ak vs 3bet-value · ak vs 3bet-bluff · ak vs 4bet-range · aa vs utg-open · aa vs mp-open · aa vs co-open