QQ vs a UTG opening range: Equity & Strategy
Pocket Queens (QQ) has 70.1% equity all-in preflop against a UTG opening range — 202 combos, 15.2% of all starting hands. It wins 69.5% of runouts outright, loses 29.4% and chops 1.1%. These are exact figures from full board enumeration against every unblocked combo in the range, not a simulation.
| Side | Win | Chop | Equity |
|---|---|---|---|
| 69.5% | 1.1% | 70.1% | |
| a UTG opening range | 29.4% | 1.1% | 29.9% |
The range this is computed against
Under the gun a competent 6-max regular opens roughly the top 15% of hands: every pocket pair, the suited aces (nut-flush and wheel blockers), suited broadways down to J9s, the strongest suited connectors, and only AJo+ / KQo offsuit — offsuit hands realise their equity badly from the worst seat at the table.
UTG open — 202 combos, 15.2% of all starting hands: AA, KK, QQ, JJ, TT, 99, 88, 77, 66, 55, 44, 33, 22, AKs, AQs, AJs, ATs, A9s, A5s, A4s, A3s, KQs, KJs, KTs, QJs, QTs, JTs, J9s, T9s, 98s, 87s, 76s, AKo, AQo, AJo, KQo
After card removal, 177 of those 202 combos are still available (25 are blocked by the cards QQ holds). QQ is ahead of 164 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 |
|---|---|---|
| QJs | 2 | 84.2% |
| QTs | 2 | 83.8% |
| JJ | 6 | 82.0% |
| J9s | 4 | 81.9% |
| 22 | 6 | 81.8% |
QQ has 70.1% equity all-in preflop against a UTG opening range — 202 combos, 15.2% of all hands. Pocket Queens wins the pot outright 69.5% of the time, loses 29.4% and chops 1.1%. Your own two cards remove 25 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 164 of the 177 combos you can still be facing (93%), which is what a 70.1% number actually looks like hand by hand.
The range behind this number is not a guess. Under the gun a competent 6-max regular opens roughly the top 15% of hands: every pocket pair, the suited aces (nut-flush and wheel blockers), suited broadways down to J9s, the strongest suited connectors, and only AJo+ / KQo offsuit — offsuit hands realise their equity badly from the worst seat at the table. QQ's worst spots in it are KK (18.1%), AA (18.5%) and QQ (50.0%) — and its best are QJs (84.2%), QTs (83.8%) and JJ (82.0%). Across the whole range QQ's equity swings from 18.1% at the bottom to 84.2% at the top — the single 70.1% headline is the combo-weighted average of all of it.
Facing a UTG opening range, 70.1% 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 15.2% of hands, you are priced in against a pot-sized bet (which needs about 33%).
QQ vs UTG open FAQ
What is QQ's equity against a UTG opening range?
QQ has 70.1% equity all-in preflop against a UTG opening range — it wins 69.5% of runouts outright, loses 29.4% and chops 1.1%. The range holds 202 combos (15.2% of all hands); QQ blocks 25 of them, leaving 177 live. This is exact full board enumeration, not a simulation.
Which hands in a UTG opening range beat QQ?
QQ is behind 13 of the 177 live combos and ahead of the other 164. The worst matchups are KK (18.1%), AA (18.5%) and QQ (50.0%); its best are QJs (84.2%), QTs (83.8%) and JJ (82.0%). Every figure is exact, computed against that hand's unblocked combos only.
What hands are in a UTG opening range?
36 hand classes and 202 combos — 15.2% of the 1,326 possible starting hands. By combo count it is 39% pocket pairs (13 pairs, 78 combos), 38% suited hands (19 classes, 76 combos) and 24% offsuit hands (4 classes, 48 combos). That shape is why QQ runs at 70.1% 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