QQ vs a middle-position opening range: Equity & Strategy

Pocket Queens (QQ) has 70.5% equity all-in preflop against a middle-position opening range — 258 combos, 19.5% of all starting hands. It wins 70.0% of runouts outright, loses 29.1% 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

With one fewer player left to act, middle position adds the rest of the suited aces, the suited one-gappers and a second layer of offsuit broadways (ATo, KJo) to the UTG chart — about 19% of hands.

MP open — 258 combos, 19.5% 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, QJs, QTs, Q9s, JTs, J9s, T9s, T8s, 98s, 87s, 76s, 65s, AKo, AQo, AJo, ATo, KQo, KJo

After card removal, 231 of those 258 combos are still available (27 are blocked by the cards QQ holds). QQ is ahead of 218 and behind 13.

Hardest parts of the range for QQ

Easiest parts of the range for QQ

Against a middle-position opening range (258 combos, 19.5% of all hands), QQ runs at 70.5%. It wins 70.0% of runouts outright, loses 29.1% and splits the remaining 0.9%. Your own two cards remove 27 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 218 of the 231 combos you can still be facing (94%), which is what a 70.5% number actually looks like hand by hand.

The range behind this number is not a guess. With one fewer player left to act, middle position adds the rest of the suited aces, the suited one-gappers and a second layer of offsuit broadways (ATo, KJo) to the UTG chart — about 19% of hands. QQ's worst spots in it are KK (18.1%), AA (18.5%) and QQ (50.0%) — and its best are Q9s (85.5%), QJs (84.2%) and QTs (83.8%). Across the whole range QQ's equity swings from 18.1% at the bottom to 85.5% at the top — the single 70.5% headline is the combo-weighted average of all of it.

The practical read on 70.5% against a middle-position opening range: 3-bet and get money in — you dominate the opener's continuing range and every free card costs you value.

QQ vs MP open FAQ

What is QQ's equity against a middle-position opening range?

QQ has 70.5% equity all-in preflop against a middle-position opening range — it wins 70.0% of runouts outright, loses 29.1% and chops 0.9%. The range holds 258 combos (19.5% of all hands); QQ blocks 27 of them, leaving 231 live. This is exact full board enumeration, not a simulation.

Which hands in a middle-position opening range beat QQ?

QQ is behind 13 of the 231 live combos and ahead of the other 218. The worst matchups are KK (18.1%), AA (18.5%) and QQ (50.0%); its best are Q9s (85.5%), QJs (84.2%) and QTs (83.8%). Every figure is exact, computed against that hand's unblocked combos only.

What hands are in a middle-position opening range?

46 hand classes and 258 combos — 19.5% of the 1,326 possible starting hands. By combo count it is 30% pocket pairs (13 pairs, 78 combos), 42% suited hands (27 classes, 108 combos) and 28% offsuit hands (6 classes, 72 combos). That shape is why QQ runs at 70.5% 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