Poker Statistics #3: Pair vs. Pair
What are the odds of winning (or losing) when the pre-flop confrontation is pair versus pair?
Well assuming both players don’t have the same pair, the bigger pair is about an 80%/20% favorite. This is an approximation, but good enough for most heads up olay. While the lower pair would appear to only have two outs, there also the possibilities of flushes to the lower pair, as well as straights. Actually the closer the pairs are (KK vs. QQ) the lower the chances for the small pair because of the loss of some straight cards. Also shared suits between the pairs clearly cost the small pair the flush outs in that suit.
The 80%/20% odds are pre-flop, should the small pair flop a set on the flop, the odds flip to 91%/9% in favor of the small pair now small set. And should the big pair flop a big set, then its 98%/2% for the big set.
-this is Beginner’s Poker Blog Post #165
