33 vs 22
A pair of threes against a pair of twos, all in before the flop. The smallest possible pair-over-pair. One rank of difference, and it still decides it.
The numbers
33
a pair of threes
80.4%
equity
22
a pair of twos
19.6%
equity
| Outcome | Share of boards |
|---|---|
| 33 wins | 77.9% |
| 22 wins | 17.1% |
| Split pot | 5.0% |
Exact, not simulated. 33 means a pair of threes and 22 means a pair of twos: 36 legal ways to deal the two hands, and every one of the 1,712,304 possible five-card boards dealt for each — 61,642,944 board-and-hand combinations in total, each one scored by the same evaluator the calculator uses. Combinations that are the same hand with the suits renamed were counted once and weighted by how many they stand for: 3 distinct suit patterns stand in for all 36, which is the same answer for 12 times less work.
Why it comes out this way
The pair of threes is ahead before a card is dealt, and only the board can change that. Just two twos are left in the deck, so the pair of twos normally has to catch one of those two cards to take the lead.
The pair of twos wins 17.1% of the time: three of a kind from one of those two cards, or a straight or a flush built almost entirely out of community cards.
Both pairs are small — eleven ranks are higher than the pair of threes — so a lot of boards put bigger cards out there that help neither hand, and the pair that was ahead stays ahead.
The two hands split the pot 5.0% of the time, on the boards where the five community cards themselves are the best five cards for both players.
Open it in the calculator
The link below deals one typical version of this matchup — 3of spades3of hearts against 2of spades2of diamonds — into the calculator, with both hands set and the board empty. Add community cards one at a time to watch the equity move, or change a card to see how much the suits are worth.