5♠2♠

52s

5-2 suited

Rank
155of 169
Equity vs random
37.8%
Combinations
4
Better than
10.9%

52s ranks 155 out of the 169 starting hands in Hold'em. Against a random hand it wins 37.8% of the time, which puts it ahead of 10.9% of all possible deals once the deck is sorted by that equity. It comes with 4 of the 1,326 possible combinations — 0.3% of the hands you will be dealt.

How to play it before the flop

The fundamentals charts never open it at a 6-max table: it is a preflop fold when the pot is unopened. If the button opens and you are in the big blind, the chart says fold.

A gap costs straights. Same idea as the connector — draws, not high card — with fewer ways to complete them, which is why it lives on the edge of the button opening range. Against that button range it has 34.7%. With a gap, be pickier: position always, and ideally with stacks left to get paid on the draw.

What this hand makes

You pair one of your two cards on 32.4% of flops. You flop a flush draw 10.9% of the time and a made flush 0.84%; seeing all five cards, you end up with a flush 6.5% of the time. An open-ended straight draw shows up on 4.0% of flops. Going to the river every time, the hand ends up as pair 42.2% of the time and stays high card 17.1%.

You pair a card 32.4%
Flush draw 10.9%
Flopped flush 0.84%
Open-ended straight draw 4.0%
Gutshot straight draw 13.4%

Where it ends up if you see all five cards

High card 17.1%
Pair 42.2%
Two pair 22.0%
Three of a kind 4.3%
Straight 5.4%
Flush 6.5%
Full house 2.2%
Four of a kind 0.13%
Straight flush 0.11%

Exact enumeration, no sampling: the flop events run through all 19,600 possible flops and the final distribution through all 2,118,760 five-card boards. The distribution assumes you always reach the river, so it describes the hand’s potential rather than a real session, where most hands are folded earlier. Open-ended includes double gutshots (two distinct ranks complete it).

Against the reference ranges

Range Notation Your equity
UTG opening range 77+, ATs+, KQs, AJo+, KQo 29.9%
MP opening range 66+, A9s+, KTs+, QJs, ATo+, KQo 30.7%
Cutoff opening range 22+, A4s+, K9s+, Q9s+, J9s+, T9s, 98s, A9o+, KTo+, QTo+, JTo 33.2%
Button opening range 22+, A2s+, K5s+, Q7s+, J8s+, T8s+, 97s+, 86s+, 75s+, 65s, 54s, A2o+, K9o+, Q9o+, J9o+, T9o 34.7%
Big blind 3-bet range TT+, AQs+, A5s-A4s, AKo 27.2%
Big blind calling range 22-99, A2s-AJs, KTs+, QTs+, J9s+, T8s+, 97s+, 86s+, 76s, 65s, ATo+, KJo+, QJo 34.3%

Equity if the hand goes to the river against an opponent holding exactly that range. 120,000-hand Monte Carlo with a fixed seed, computed by our engine.

Hand versus hand

52s against AA 18.4% behind
52s against KK 19.8% behind
52s against QQ 19.8% behind
52s against AKs 37.0% behind
52s against JTs 35.6% behind
52s against 72o 39.5% behind

These are not estimates: they are the exact enumeration of all 1,712,304 possible boards for each matchup. Suited hands are matched up in different suits.

Similar hands

All starting hands