JJ vs a 20bb shoving range: Equity & Strategy

Pocket Jacks (JJ) has 61.4% equity all-in preflop against a 20bb shoving range — 164 combos, 12.4% of all starting hands. It wins 60.8% of runouts outright, loses 38.0% and chops 1.2%. 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, 145 of those 164 combos are still available (19 are blocked by the cards JJ holds). JJ is ahead of 126 and behind 19.

Hardest parts of the range for JJ

Easiest parts of the range for JJ

Against a 20bb shoving range (164 combos, 12.4% of all hands), JJ runs at 61.4%. It wins 60.8% of runouts outright, loses 38.0% and splits the remaining 1.2%. Your own two cards remove 19 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 126 of the 145 combos you can still be facing (87%), which is what a 61.4% 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. JJ's worst spots in it are QQ (18.0%), KK (18.5%) and AA (18.9%) — and its best are JTs (82.2%), TT (82.0%) and 99 (81.6%). Across the whole range JJ's equity swings from 18.0% at the bottom to 82.2% at the top — the single 61.4% headline is the combo-weighted average of all of it.

Against a 20bb shoving range (12.4% of hands), JJ is a 61.4% proposition. You are the favourite, so the only question is whether the stack sizes and the payout ladder let you take the flip.

JJ vs 20bb shove FAQ

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

JJ has 61.4% equity all-in preflop against a 20bb shoving range — it wins 60.8% of runouts outright, loses 38.0% and chops 1.2%. The range holds 164 combos (12.4% of all hands); JJ blocks 19 of them, leaving 145 live. This is exact full board enumeration, not a simulation.

Which hands in a 20bb shoving range beat JJ?

JJ is behind 19 of the 145 live combos and ahead of the other 126. The worst matchups are QQ (18.0%), KK (18.5%) and AA (18.9%); its best are JTs (82.2%), TT (82.0%) and 99 (81.6%). 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 JJ runs at 61.4% 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 utg-open · jj vs mp-open · jj vs co-open · aa vs shove-10bb · aa vs shove-20bb · kk vs shove-10bb