QQ vs a button opening range: Equity & Strategy

Pocket Queens (QQ) has 74.2% equity all-in preflop against a button opening range — 586 combos, 44.2% of all starting hands. It wins 73.9% of runouts outright, loses 25.4% and chops 0.7%. These are exact figures from full board enumeration against every unblocked combo in the range, not a simulation.

The range this is computed against

The button is the widest legitimate opening range in poker — guaranteed position for the rest of the hand and only two blinds left to act, so close to 45% of all hands open profitably: every pair, every suited ace and king, most suited queens and jacks, all the suited connectors and gappers, and offsuit aces all the way down to A2o.

BTN open — 586 combos, 44.2% 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, K8s, K7s, K6s, K5s, K4s, K3s, K2s, QJs, QTs, Q9s, Q8s, Q7s, Q6s, Q5s, Q4s, Q3s, Q2s, JTs, J9s, J8s, J7s, T9s, T8s, T7s, T6s, 98s, 97s, 96s, 95s, 87s, 86s, 85s, 76s, 75s, 74s, 65s, 64s, 63s, 54s, 53s, 52s, 43s, AKo, AQo, AJo, ATo, A9o, A8o, A7o, A6o, A5o, A4o, A3o, A2o, KQo, KJo, KTo, K9o, QJo, QTo, Q9o, JTo, J9o, T9o, 98o

After card removal, 527 of those 586 combos are still available (59 are blocked by the cards QQ holds). QQ is ahead of 514 and behind 13.

Hardest parts of the range for QQ

Easiest parts of the range for QQ

Put QQ up against a button opening range — 586 combos, 44.2% of all hands — and the exact answer is 74.2% equity: 73.9% outright wins, 25.4% losses and 0.7% chops. Your own two cards remove 59 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 514 of the 527 combos you can still be facing (98%), which is what a 74.2% number actually looks like hand by hand.

The range behind this number is not a guess. The button is the widest legitimate opening range in poker — guaranteed position for the rest of the hand and only two blinds left to act, so close to 45% of all hands open profitably: every pair, every suited ace and king, most suited queens and jacks, all the suited connectors and gappers, and offsuit aces all the way down to A2o. QQ's worst spots in it are KK (18.1%), AA (18.5%) and QQ (50.0%) — and its best are Q9o (90.7%), QJo (89.2%) and Q2s (89.0%). Across the whole range QQ's equity swings from 18.1% at the bottom to 90.7% at the top — the single 74.2% headline is the combo-weighted average of all of it.

Facing a button opening range, 74.2% is a raise-or-fold number, not a call-and-see number: QQ is far ahead of the range as a whole, so building the pot before the flop is worth more than disguising the hand. Against 44.2% of hands, you are priced in against a pot-sized bet (which needs about 33%).

QQ vs BTN open FAQ

What is QQ's equity against a button opening range?

QQ has 74.2% equity all-in preflop against a button opening range — it wins 73.9% of runouts outright, loses 25.4% and chops 0.7%. The range holds 586 combos (44.2% of all hands); QQ blocks 59 of them, leaving 527 live. This is exact full board enumeration, not a simulation.

Which hands in a button opening range beat QQ?

QQ is behind 13 of the 527 live combos and ahead of the other 514. The worst matchups are KK (18.1%), AA (18.5%) and QQ (50.0%); its best are Q9o (90.7%), QJo (89.2%) and Q2s (89.0%). Every figure is exact, computed against that hand's unblocked combos only.

What hands are in a button opening range?

94 hand classes and 586 combos — 44.2% of the 1,326 possible starting hands. By combo count it is 13% pocket pairs (13 pairs, 78 combos), 40% suited hands (58 classes, 232 combos) and 47% offsuit hands (23 classes, 276 combos). That shape is why QQ runs at 74.2% against it rather than against a random hand.

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

Wider, almost always. QQ has 75.2% equity against a loose-passive calling range (50.5% of hands) but 46.0% 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 · qq vs 3bet-value · qq vs 3bet-bluff · qq vs 4bet-range · aa vs utg-open · aa vs mp-open · aa vs co-open