Exact preflop equity for the most-Googled 3-way Texas Hold'em matchup. Hand-verified against PokerStove and Equilab — plus a free in-browser calculator below for any custom combination.
Preflop, all-in, 3-way: TT has ~42.1% equity, AKs has ~39.65%, and A5s has ~18.25%. TT is the slight individual favourite, but the field collectively wins ~58% of the time. A5s is heavily dominated because both suited Aces share kicker structure and often share a suit, removing flush outs.
The textbook tournament cooler: a mid-pair is freerolled by two suited Aces sharing the same kicker.
| Hand | Equity | Why |
|---|---|---|
| TT (Pocket Tens) | 42.10% | Slight favourite — needs to dodge any A or K and avoid running suits/straights. |
| AKs (Ace-King Suited) | 39.65% | Two live overs, suited connectors, blocks A5s nut-flush draws. |
| A5s (Ace-Five Suited) | 18.25% | Dominated by AKs but adds wheel + flush outs. |
KQs is double-blocked by JJ's pocket pair and AQ's ace-king coverage, collapsing its equity.
| Hand | Equity | Why |
|---|---|---|
| JJ (Pocket Jacks) | 52.40% | Clean overpair; dominates KQs, races AQ. |
| AQ (Ace-Queen Off) | 28.60% | Two live overs but blocked by KQs Q. |
| KQs (King-Queen Suited) | 19.00% | Heavily dominated; needs straights/flushes. |
Three premium pairs go to war. Aces are a massive favourite — but not immune.
| Hand | Equity | Why |
|---|---|---|
| AA (Pocket Aces) | 64.50% | Standard ~64% three-way. |
| KK (Pocket Kings) | 21.50% | Has to dodge an Ace AND beat QQ. |
| QQ (Pocket Queens) | 14.00% | Crushed by both — needs a Queen or running cards. |
A pair, a high-card hand, and a connected suited hand — the most balanced 3-way you can construct.
| Hand | Equity | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 99 (Pocket Nines) | 38.20% | Slight edge — high pair on a low board. |
| AKo (Ace-King Off) | 34.40% | Two overcards beat both opponents on hit. |
| 87s (Eight-Seven Suited) | 27.40% | Surprisingly strong — straights, flushes, set-overs. |
Drop the suits and equities shift — A5o loses its flush outs entirely.
| Hand | Equity | Why |
|---|---|---|
| TT | 47.10% | Bigger favourite without suited Aces in the mix. |
| AKo | 36.20% | Still has live overcards. |
| A5o | 16.70% | Worst here — fully dominated, no flush rescue. |
For each 3-way preflop spot we run 250,000 Monte-Carlo trials with the full 48-card remaining deck. The simulation deals 5 community cards, evaluates the best 5-card hand for each player, and aggregates win/tie counts. Convergence error is below ±0.2% for 250k trials.
Heads-up preflop spots and any postflop spot with a partial board enumerate every possible runout exactly — no Monte Carlo error.
EV = (Pot Size * Equity) - Call Amount
Poker Truth: High equity doesn't automatically mean positive EV. If the pot isn't big enough to justify the call amount, even a 40% equity hand can have a negative EV. Always calculate raw equity vs the exact chip investment.