Quick answer
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44 by the numbers
- vs 1 random hand
- 57%
- all-in equity
- vs 5 random hands
- 17.3%
- full 6-max table
- Flop a set or better
- 11.8%
- about 1 in 8.5
- How often dealt
- 0.45%
- 1 in 221
How to play 44 by position
6-max cash game, around 100 big blinds deep.
- Early position (UTG)
- Open-raise in loose 6-max games or fold in tough ones. Don’t call 3-bets.
- Middle position (hijack)
- Open-raise when folded to; call opens only when stacks are deep.
- Late position (cutoff, button)
- Open-raise. Position gives fours their best chance to win without a set.
- Blinds
- Raise when folded to, and call opens when stacks are deep enough to set-mine.
- Facing a raise
- Call single raises with deep stacks (roughly 15–20 times the call). Fold to most 3-bets.
After the flop
- A set or better arrives about 11.8% of the time. Without one, fours are usually behind.
- On boards with low cards and a straight draw, a flopped set is still worth betting aggressively.
- Don’t call big bets with an underpair hoping your opponent is bluffing.
44 against common hands
Fours win 54.2% against AKo and 48.1% against QJs, which has straight and flush chances. Against 55 they win just 17.9%.
| Against | 44 wins | Tie | 44 loses |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5-5 | 17.9% | 2.7% | 79.4% |
| A-K offsuit | 54.2% | 0.4% | 45.4% |
| Q-J suited | 48.1% | 0.8% | 51.1% |
All-in before the flop, exact results from every possible board. Suits as dealt in our example; figures shift slightly with other suit combinations.
What 44 makes by the river
If you see all five board cards, your best five-card hand ends up as each of these this often. Exact figures from every possible board.
- Straight flush0.02%
- Four of a kind0.8%
- Full house8.6%
- Flush1.9%
- Straight2.0%
- Three of a kind11.7%
- Two pair39.5%
- One pair35.4%
Common mistakes with 44
- Calling raises without enough chips behind to make set-mining profitable.
- Calling down with fours after the flop misses.
- Opening from early position in full-ring or tough games.
Where 44 sits in the chart
Suited hands above the diagonal, offsuit below, pairs on it. Number = equity against one random hand. A white dot means the hand has a full guide.
Pocket fours FAQ
Is 44 a strong hand?
Not really. It is a speculative hand that wins big pots when it flops a set but loses many small pots when it misses.
Why does QJs beat 44 more often than AKo does?
Queen-jack suited has more straight and flush chances because its cards are connected and suited, so it wins more often than AKo against fours.
How do I play fours with a short stack in a tournament?
With 15bb or less, shove from late position and the blinds when folded to you; fold from early seats in many cases.