AK vs a 20bb shoving range: Equity & Strategy

Ace-King (AK) has 57.8% equity all-in preflop against a 20bb shoving range — 164 combos, 12.4% of all starting hands. It wins 53.6% of runouts outright, loses 38.0% and chops 8.4%. 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, 131 of those 164 combos are still available (33 are blocked by the cards AK holds). AK is ahead of 75 and behind 56.

Hardest parts of the range for AK

Easiest parts of the range for AK

Against a 20bb shoving range (164 combos, 12.4% of all hands), AK runs at 57.8%. It wins 53.6% of runouts outright, loses 38.0% and splits the remaining 8.4%. Your own two cards remove 33 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 75 of the 131 combos you can still be facing (57%), which is what a 57.8% 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. AK's worst spots in it are AA (8.2%), KK (31.1%) and TT (43.8%) — and its best are KQo (75.0%), AQo (74.7%) and AJo (74.3%). Across the whole range AK's equity swings from 8.2% at the bottom to 75.0% at the top — the single 57.8% headline is the combo-weighted average of all of it.

Against a 20bb shoving range (12.4% of hands), AK is a 57.8% proposition. You are the favourite, so the only question is whether the stack sizes and the payout ladder let you take the flip.

AK vs 20bb shove FAQ

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

AK has 57.8% equity all-in preflop against a 20bb shoving range — it wins 53.6% of runouts outright, loses 38.0% and chops 8.4%. The range holds 164 combos (12.4% of all hands); AK blocks 33 of them, leaving 131 live. This is exact full board enumeration, not a simulation.

Which hands in a 20bb shoving range beat AK?

AK is behind 56 of the 131 live combos and ahead of the other 75. The worst matchups are AA (8.2%), KK (31.1%) and TT (43.8%); its best are KQo (75.0%), AQo (74.7%) and AJo (74.3%). 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 AK runs at 57.8% 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 utg-open · ak vs mp-open · ak vs co-open · aa vs shove-10bb · aa vs shove-20bb · kk vs shove-10bb