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

Pocket Jacks (JJ) has 66.2% equity all-in preflop against a middle-position opening range — 258 combos, 19.5% of all starting hands. It wins 65.8% of runouts outright, loses 33.3% and chops 1.0%. 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, 231 of those 258 combos are still available (27 are blocked by the cards JJ holds). JJ is ahead of 212 and behind 19.

Hardest parts of the range for JJ

Easiest parts of the range for JJ

JJ has 66.2% equity all-in preflop against a middle-position opening range — 258 combos, 19.5% of all hands. Pocket Jacks wins the pot outright 65.8% of the time, loses 33.3% and chops 1.0%. Your own two cards remove 27 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 212 of the 231 combos you can still be facing (92%), which is what a 66.2% number actually looks like hand by hand.

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. Inside that range, the combos that hurt JJ most are QQ (18.0%), KK (18.5%) and AA (18.9%); the ones you want to see are J9s (83.9%), JTs (82.2%) and TT (82.0%). Across the whole range JJ's equity swings from 18.0% at the bottom to 83.9% at the top — the single 66.2% headline is the combo-weighted average of all of it.

The practical read on 66.2% 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.

JJ vs MP open FAQ

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

JJ has 66.2% equity all-in preflop against a middle-position opening range — it wins 65.8% of runouts outright, loses 33.3% and chops 1.0%. The range holds 258 combos (19.5% of all hands); JJ blocks 27 of them, leaving 231 live. This is exact full board enumeration, not a simulation.

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

JJ is behind 19 of the 231 live combos and ahead of the other 212. The worst matchups are QQ (18.0%), KK (18.5%) and AA (18.9%); its best are J9s (83.9%), JTs (82.2%) and TT (82.0%). 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 JJ runs at 66.2% against it rather than against a random hand.

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

Wider, almost always. JJ has 71.9% equity against a loose-passive calling range (50.5% of hands) but 42.0% 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 · jj vs 3bet-value · jj vs 3bet-bluff · jj vs 4bet-range · aa vs utg-open · aa vs mp-open · aa vs co-open