--- title: "22 vs 86s: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/22-vs-86s.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/22-vs-86s" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "22 vs 86s is close to a coin flip before the flop: 47.87% to 52.13% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/22-vs-76s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/22-vs-75s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/97s-vs-86s.md"] --- # 22 vs 86s: preflop equity 22 vs 86s is close to a coin flip before the flop: 47.87% to 52.13% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. Before any board card is dealt, 86s holds 52.13% equity against 22, which leaves 22 with 47.87%. ## 22 against 86s: the numbers **Exact preflop results for 22 against 86s, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 22 | 46.667 | 2.408 | 50.925 | 47.871 | | 86s | 50.925 | 2.408 | 46.667 | 52.129 | We compare a pocket pair with a suited hand. One hand holds a pair and the other holds two cards that both outrank it, which keeps the equity closer than most people expect. 86s leads by less than 5 points of equity, so the result of any one deal is close to a toss-up. Split pots make up 2.41% of the boards, and both equity figures count them as half a win each. By strength against a random hand, 22 holds place 87 of 169 and 86s holds place 110. **Boards behind the percentages: 41,095,296 counted in all** | Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 22 | 19,178,000 | 990,000 | 20,928,000 | | 86s | 20,928,000 | 990,000 | 19,178,000 | 24 specific deals times 1,712,304 boards gives the exact total. The won, tied and lost counts are approximations from the five-decimal percentages, rounded to the nearest thousand. **22 against 86s read as odds** | Hand | Equity as odds (to 1) | Wins one deal in | Loses one deal in | Pot odds needed to call (to 1) | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 22 | 0.918 | 2.143 | 1.964 | 1.089 | | 86s | 1.089 | 1.964 | 2.143 | 0.918 | The final column gives the least the pot must offer for each unit called for a call to break even at this equity. ## Who is ahead on which flops Split by what the flop looks like, 86s peaks at 61.26% on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower) and bottoms out at 49.63% on rainbow flops topped by a ten or better. 22 takes over on rainbow flops topped by a ten or better and paired flops, so the favorite before the flop is the underdog on those boards. **22 against 86s by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | 22 wins | Ties | 86s wins | 22 equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 25.844 | 49.694 | 1.357 | 48.949 | 50.373 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 5.065 | 38.301 | 0.885 | 60.814 | 38.744 | | Two-tone | 46.545 | 45.969 | 1.219 | 52.812 | 46.578 | | Monotone | 5.212 | 45.870 | 4.433 | 49.697 | 48.086 | | Paired | 17.334 | 46.712 | 7.004 | 46.284 | 50.214 | Read the flop types this way: rainbow has three suits, two-tone has two cards of one suit, monotone has three, and paired repeats a rank. ## Compared with a random hand How much does the opponent matter? Compared with its random-hand 50.33%, 22 changes by -2.46 points, and 86s, from 46.24%, by +5.89. **22 and 86s here compared with each against a random hand, in percent** | Case | Equity here | Against a random hand | Change in points | Times the random-hand equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 22, all flops | 47.871 | 50.334 | -2.463 | 0.95107 | | 22, rainbow, ten or higher | 50.373 | 50.334 | +0.039 | 1.00077 | | 22, rainbow, nine or lower | 38.744 | 50.334 | -11.590 | 0.76974 | | 22, two-tone | 46.578 | 50.334 | -3.756 | 0.92538 | | 22, monotone | 48.086 | 50.334 | -2.248 | 0.95534 | | 22, paired | 50.214 | 50.334 | -0.120 | 0.99762 | | 86s, all flops | 52.129 | 46.243 | +5.886 | 1.12728 | | 86s, rainbow, ten or higher | 49.627 | 46.243 | +3.384 | 1.07318 | | 86s, rainbow, nine or lower | 61.256 | 46.243 | +15.013 | 1.32465 | | 86s, two-tone | 53.422 | 46.243 | +7.179 | 1.15525 | | 86s, monotone | 51.914 | 46.243 | +5.671 | 1.12263 | | 86s, paired | 49.786 | 46.243 | +3.543 | 1.07662 | ## Does a shared suit matter? Suit overlap shows up in the numbers. With a suit in common 86s has 51.98% equity, and with none in common it has 52.28%. 86s does better with no shared suit, by 0.30 points. **22 against 86s by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | 22 wins | Ties | 86s wins | 22 equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 12 | 50.00 | 46.807 | 2.426 | 50.767 | 48.020 | | No shared suit | 12 | 50.00 | 46.527 | 2.389 | 51.084 | 47.722 | ## How often this matchup comes up How often does it happen? 24 of the 1,624,350 ordered deals (0.0015%) are 22 against 86s, and 48 (0.0030%) if either hand may sit in either seat. ## A worked example Say each player puts $100 in before the flop, making a $200 pot. On average 86s takes back $104.26 of it, which is $4.26 more than it put in, and 22 takes back $95.74, $4.26 less than it put in. Over a long run, 1,000 deals split into about 509 for 86s, 467 for 22 and 24 tied. ## The same matchup from the other side If you came looking for 86s against 22, the numbers are the same with the hands swapped: 52.13% and 47.87%. ## Keep exploring Try 2s2h against 8d6d in the calculator: the hands share no suit, and every card can be changed. The links after it are the closest matchups in the ranking. - [Open 2s2h against 8d6d in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=2s2h&p2=8d6d) - [22 combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/22.md) - [86s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/86s.md) - [22 vs 76s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/22-vs-76s.md) - [22 vs 75s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/22-vs-75s.md) - [97s vs 86s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/97s-vs-86s.md) - [All hand matchups](https://georgelipoker.com/equity.md) ## How this was computed Nothing here is simulated. The 24 deals of 22 against 86s fall into a few suit patterns, each dealt against all 1,712,304 boards, with both best five-card hands compared on every board. Ties give each hand half a win, and the flop rows count a board under each of its ten flops. Source: our own exact count from the GeorgeLiPoker poker math library. No outside data is used. ## Related - [22 vs 76s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/22-vs-76s.md) - [22 vs 75s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/22-vs-75s.md) - [97s vs 86s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/97s-vs-86s.md)