QQ vs a cutoff opening range: Equity & Strategy
Pocket Queens (QQ) has 72.2% equity all-in preflop against a cutoff opening range — 366 combos, 27.6% of all starting hands. It wins 71.9% of runouts outright, loses 27.4% and chops 0.8%. These are exact figures from full board enumeration against every unblocked combo in the range, not a simulation.
| Side | Win | Chop | Equity |
|---|---|---|---|
| 71.9% | 0.8% | 72.2% | |
| a cutoff opening range | 27.4% | 0.8% | 27.8% |
The range this is computed against
The cutoff opens roughly a quarter of hands: all pairs and suited aces, suited kings down to K5s, every suited connector and one-gapper, and offsuit broadways down to A8o / KTo / QJo / JTo. Two players behind instead of five is worth more than ten percentage points of width.
CO open — 366 combos, 27.6% 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, QJs, QTs, Q9s, Q8s, JTs, J9s, J8s, T9s, T8s, T7s, 98s, 97s, 87s, 86s, 76s, 75s, 65s, 64s, 54s, AKo, AQo, AJo, ATo, A9o, A8o, KQo, KJo, KTo, QJo, JTo
After card removal, 331 of those 366 combos are still available (35 are blocked by the cards QQ holds). QQ is ahead of 318 and behind 13.
Hardest parts of the range for QQ
| Hand | Combos | QQ equity |
|---|---|---|
| KK | 6 | 18.1% |
| AA | 6 | 18.5% |
| 1 | 50.0% | |
| AKs | 4 | 54.0% |
| AKo | 12 | 56.8% |
Easiest parts of the range for QQ
| Hand | Combos | QQ equity |
|---|---|---|
| QJo | 6 | 89.2% |
| Q8s | 2 | 86.9% |
| JTo | 12 | 85.8% |
| Q9s | 2 | 85.5% |
| QJs | 2 | 84.2% |
Put QQ up against a cutoff opening range — 366 combos, 27.6% of all hands — and the exact answer is 72.2% equity: 71.9% outright wins, 27.4% losses and 0.8% chops. Your own two cards remove 35 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 318 of the 331 combos you can still be facing (96%), which is what a 72.2% number actually looks like hand by hand.
Where does the range come from? The cutoff opens roughly a quarter of hands: all pairs and suited aces, suited kings down to K5s, every suited connector and one-gapper, and offsuit broadways down to A8o / KTo / QJo / JTo. Two players behind instead of five is worth more than ten percentage points of width. Broken down hand by hand, QQ does worst against KK (18.1%), AA (18.5%) and QQ (50.0%) and best against QJo (89.2%), Q8s (86.9%) and JTo (85.8%). Across the whole range QQ's equity swings from 18.1% at the bottom to 89.2% at the top — the single 72.2% headline is the combo-weighted average of all of it.
Facing a cutoff opening range, 72.2% 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 27.6% of hands, you are priced in against a pot-sized bet (which needs about 33%).
QQ vs CO open FAQ
What is QQ's equity against a cutoff opening range?
QQ has 72.2% equity all-in preflop against a cutoff opening range — it wins 71.9% of runouts outright, loses 27.4% and chops 0.8%. The range holds 366 combos (27.6% of all hands); QQ blocks 35 of them, leaving 331 live. This is exact full board enumeration, not a simulation.
Which hands in a cutoff opening range beat QQ?
QQ is behind 13 of the 331 live combos and ahead of the other 318. The worst matchups are KK (18.1%), AA (18.5%) and QQ (50.0%); its best are QJo (89.2%), Q8s (86.9%) and JTo (85.8%). Every figure is exact, computed against that hand's unblocked combos only.
What hands are in a cutoff opening range?
63 hand classes and 366 combos — 27.6% of the 1,326 possible starting hands. By combo count it is 21% pocket pairs (13 pairs, 78 combos), 43% suited hands (39 classes, 156 combos) and 36% offsuit hands (11 classes, 132 combos). That shape is why QQ runs at 72.2% 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