Watching WSOP 2008 and i don't how they calculate which hand will win?

Question

i was watching and two guys went all in. one guy had 55 and the other had AK. on the screen they calculated that the 55 had a 59% chance to win before the flop while the AK had a 41% chance to win. i know the % changes on the turn and river but how did they figure out the 59 and 41% preflop?

Answer 1

This is all based on probability and there are formulas for that. The simple answer is assume they are the only two in the game. There are 48 cards left after each player gets his two. if you take three cards for the flop what is the probility of one of them being an A or K . That is 6 cards out of 48 that will help that player. The other part is the probility of two pair coming up that are larger than the pair of 5's. These percentages have been worked out and are published and the good players know them all by heart.