A8s: the 4 combos
For A8s, the ace and the eight must share a suit. With 4 suits and one way to pair them in each, the count is 4.
Every A8s you can be dealt is one of these 4 holdings. They are listed once each, higher card first.
How cards you can see change the count
Known cards cannot be in an opponent's hand. For A8s, the table lists the combos left after one card of each rank is out of play.
| Known card | A8s combos left |
|---|---|
| Ace | 3 |
| King | 4 |
| Queen | 4 |
| Jack | 4 |
| Ten | 4 |
| Nine | 4 |
| Eight | 3 |
| Seven | 4 |
| Six | 4 |
| Five | 4 |
| Four | 4 |
| Three | 4 |
| Two | 4 |
An ace or an eight you can see leaves 3 of 4, so 25% of the combos are gone. Any card of a different rank leaves all 4 combos in play.
When the board is paired
A pair on the board uses up two of the four cards of its rank. The A8s combos that survive are in the table, one row per rank.
| Board pair | A8s combos left |
|---|---|
| Aces | 2 |
| Kings | 4 |
| Queens | 4 |
| Jacks | 4 |
| Tens | 4 |
| Nines | 4 |
| Eights | 2 |
| Sevens | 4 |
| Sixes | 4 |
| Fives | 4 |
| Fours | 4 |
| Threes | 4 |
| Twos | 4 |
Pairing aces or eights on the board cuts A8s to 2 combos. Every other paired board leaves the full 4.
A worked example
Take a hand of an ace and a two. Your opponent then holds one of 1,225 possible hands, and 3 of them are A8s. That is 0.24%, or 1 in 408, instead of the 0.33% (1 in 306) you get when your cards do not block it.
How strong is A8s?
Rank 21 of 169 belongs to A8s, inside the top 30 classes, on 61.94% equity against a random hand. Equity here is wins plus half of the ties across all boards.
Add A8s to every hand ranked above it and you hold 134 of the 1,326 two-card hands, 10.11% of all deals.
A8s against ranges of hands
A range is a list of hands, and equity against it weights each hand by its live combos. For A8s the five ranges give 32.22% against the top 5 percent (60 combos), 34.55% against the top 10 percent (130 combos), 46.45% against the top 20 percent (264 combos), 51.95% against the top 30 percent (386 combos) and 57.14% against the top 50 percent (658 combos).
| Opponent range | Combos in range | A8s equity |
|---|---|---|
| Top 5 percent | 60 | 32.22% |
| Top 10 percent | 130 | 34.55% |
| Top 20 percent | 264 | 46.45% |
| Top 30 percent | 386 | 51.95% |
| Top 50 percent | 658 | 57.14% |
The line sits between the top 20 and top 30 percent: A8s is behind the narrower range and ahead of the wider one.
Holding A8s removes some premium combos from an opponent's reach: of the 130 in the top 10 percent, an average of 107.00 remain. That is 23.00 combos fewer than the 130 an opponent has before you look.
Hands next to A8s
A one-place difference in rank can be a large or small gap in a direct matchup. A8s has 56.90% equity against KJs, the hand ranked number 20: it wins 56.66% of boards, ties 0.49% and loses 42.85%. It is the favorite in that matchup. A8s has 56.87% equity against KTs, the hand ranked number 22: it wins 56.62% of boards, ties 0.48% and loses 42.89%. It is the favorite in that matchup.
Same ranks, other suits: A8o is the offsuit version, number 32 of 169 at 59.87%. A8o is 3 times as many combos but 2.07 points weaker against a random hand.
Questions about A8s combos
- How many combos of A8s are there?
- 4 combos, which is 0.30% of the 1,326 two-card starting hands, so you are dealt A8s about 1 time in 331.5.
- How many A8s combos are left if I hold an ace?
- 3 combos of A8s remain out of 4. With a two as your other card, an opponent has it about 1 time in 408.
- Is A8s stronger than A8o?
- Yes, by 2.07 points: A8s has 61.94% equity against a random hand and ranks number 21, while A8o has 59.87% and ranks number 32. A8o has 12 combos to A8s's 4.
How this was computed
Every A8s combo was listed from the 1,326 two-card holdings. For each blocker or board-pair row, the combos that contain a visible card were dropped and the rest were counted.
The rank and equity figures use our matchup table, which counts all 1,712,304 boards for each pair of classes. Ties are halves, and range matchups are weighted by live combos.
Source: GeorgeLiPoker's own count of the 52-card deck and its preflop matchup table.