KQ vs a 4-betting range: Equity & Strategy

King-Queen (KQ) has 26.5% equity all-in preflop against a 4-betting range — 42 combos, 3.2% of all starting hands. It wins 26.1% of runouts outright, loses 73.1% and chops 0.9%. These are exact figures from full board enumeration against every unblocked combo in the range, not a simulation.

The range this is computed against

Four-betting is the tightest voluntary action in preflop poker. The standard construction is QQ+ and AK for value plus a token pair of blocker bluffs — A5s and A4s, which remove combos of AA and AK from the opponent's continuing range and still flop wheel and nut-flush draws when called. About 3% of hands.

4-bet — 42 combos, 3.2% of all starting hands: AA, KK, QQ, AKs, A5s, A4s, AKo

After card removal, 32 of those 42 combos are still available (10 are blocked by the cards KQ holds). KQ is ahead of 0 and behind 32.

Hardest parts of the range for KQ

Easiest parts of the range for KQ

KQ has 26.5% equity all-in preflop against a 4-betting range — 42 combos, 3.2% of all hands. King-Queen wins the pot outright 26.1% of the time, loses 73.1% and chops 0.9%. Your own two cards remove 10 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. There is not one combo in the range that KQ is a favourite against: all 32 live combos are in front of it. A range-average of 26.5% here is not an average of good spots and bad ones — every spot is a bad one.

The range behind this number is not a guess. Four-betting is the tightest voluntary action in preflop poker. The standard construction is QQ+ and AK for value plus a token pair of blocker bluffs — A5s and A4s, which remove combos of AA and AK from the opponent's continuing range and still flop wheel and nut-flush draws when called. About 3% of hands. KQ's worst spots in it are KK (10.0%), AA (13.9%) and AKs (25.4%) — and its best are A4s (40.5%), A5s (40.4%) and QQ (32.4%). Across the whole range KQ's equity swings from 10.0% at the bottom to 40.5% at the top — the single 26.5% headline is the combo-weighted average of all of it.

A 4-bet is the tightest action in preflop poker, and 26.5% reflects that: KQ is behind, and against a range this narrow the only sane options are 5-bet-jam with the right blockers or fold. There is no flat-and-outplay-them line against 3.2% of hands with the stacks a 4-bet creates.

KQ vs 4-bet FAQ

What is KQ's equity against a 4-betting range?

KQ has 26.5% equity all-in preflop against a 4-betting range — it wins 26.1% of runouts outright, loses 73.1% and chops 0.9%. The range holds 42 combos (3.2% of all hands); KQ blocks 10 of them, leaving 32 live. This is exact full board enumeration, not a simulation.

Which hands in a 4-betting range beat KQ?

All of them — KQ is behind every one of the 32 live combos. The worst are KK (10.0%), AA (13.9%) and AKs (25.4%), and the closest it gets is A4s (40.5%), A5s (40.4%) and QQ (32.4%). Every figure is exact, computed against that hand's unblocked combos only.

What hands are in a 4-betting range?

7 hand classes and 42 combos — 3.2% of the 1,326 possible starting hands. By combo count it is 43% pocket pairs (3 pairs, 18 combos), 29% suited hands (3 classes, 12 combos) and 29% offsuit hands (1 classes, 12 combos). That shape is why KQ runs at 26.5% against it rather than against a random hand.

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

Wider, almost always. KQ has 55.8% equity against a loose-passive calling range (50.5% of hands) but 26.5% 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 · kq vs utg-open · kq vs mp-open · kq vs co-open · aa vs 4bet-range · kk vs 4bet-range · qq vs 4bet-range