QJs vs a 4-betting range: Equity & Strategy

Queen-Jack Suited (QJs) has 31.6% equity all-in preflop against a 4-betting range — 42 combos, 3.2% of all starting hands. It wins 31.4% of runouts outright, loses 68.1% and chops 0.6%. These are exact figures from full board enumeration against every unblocked combo in the range, not a simulation.

The range this is computed against

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, 39 of those 42 combos are still available (3 are blocked by the cards QJs holds). QJs is ahead of 0 and behind 39.

Hardest parts of the range for QJs

Easiest parts of the range for QJs

Put QJs up against a 4-betting range — 42 combos, 3.2% of all hands — and the exact answer is 31.6% equity: 31.4% outright wins, 68.1% losses and 0.6% chops. Your own two cards remove 3 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 QJs is a favourite against: all 39 live combos are in front of it. A range-average of 31.6% 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. QJs's worst spots in it are QQ (15.8%), KK (17.7%) and AA (19.1%) — and its best are A4s (44.1%), A5s (44.0%) and AKo (38.9%). Across the whole range QJs's equity swings from 15.8% at the bottom to 44.1% at the top — the single 31.6% headline is the combo-weighted average of all of it.

A 4-bet is the tightest action in preflop poker, and 31.6% reflects that: QJs 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.

QJs vs 4-bet FAQ

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

QJs has 31.6% equity all-in preflop against a 4-betting range — it wins 31.4% of runouts outright, loses 68.1% and chops 0.6%. The range holds 42 combos (3.2% of all hands); QJs blocks 3 of them, leaving 39 live. This is exact full board enumeration, not a simulation.

Which hands in a 4-betting range beat QJs?

All of them — QJs is behind every one of the 39 live combos. The worst are QQ (15.8%), KK (17.7%) and AA (19.1%), and the closest it gets is A4s (44.1%), A5s (44.0%) and AKo (38.9%). 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 QJs runs at 31.6% against it rather than against a random hand.

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

Wider, almost always. QJs has 52.8% equity against a loose-passive calling range (50.5% of hands) but 31.6% 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 · qjs vs utg-open · qjs vs co-open · qjs vs btn-open · aa vs 4bet-range · kk vs 4bet-range · qq vs 4bet-range