--- title: "22 vs 87s: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/22-vs-87s.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/22-vs-87s" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "Who is ahead, 22 or 87s? 87s leads 53.37% to 46.63% before the flop, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/22-vs-86s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/22-vs-76s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/97s-vs-87s.md"] --- # 22 vs 87s: preflop equity Who is ahead, 22 or 87s? 87s leads 53.37% to 46.63% before the flop, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. Averaged over every possible board, 87s is ahead of 22 by 6.74 points of equity, 53.37% to 46.63%. ## 22 against 87s: the numbers **Exact preflop results for 22 against 87s, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 22 | 45.443 | 2.380 | 52.177 | 46.633 | | 87s | 52.177 | 2.380 | 45.443 | 53.367 | We compare a pocket pair with a suited hand. This is a pair against two overcards, a matchup that stays close because the other hand only needs one of its ranks to appear. 87s leads by less than 7 points of equity, so the result of any one deal is close to a toss-up. Ties are 2.38% of the outcomes here; each tied board gives both hands half the pot. By strength against a random hand, 22 holds place 87 of 169 and 87s holds place 100. **Boards behind the percentages: 41,095,296 counted in all** | Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 22 | 18,675,000 | 978,000 | 21,442,000 | | 87s | 21,442,000 | 978,000 | 18,675,000 | Exact total: 24 deals times 1,712,304 boards. The other three counts come from the five-decimal percentages and are rounded to the nearest thousand, so read them as approximate. **22 against 87s 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 | 0.874 | 2.201 | 1.917 | 1.144 | | 87s | 1.144 | 1.917 | 2.201 | 0.874 | In the last column, a pot-to-call ratio at or above the figure makes a call break even or better at this equity. ## Who is ahead on which flops Break the boards down by their first three cards and 87s is strongest on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower) (62.04%) and weakest on paired flops (50.64%). 87s stays ahead on all five textures. **22 against 87s by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | 22 wins | Ties | 87s wins | 22 equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 25.844 | 48.147 | 1.353 | 50.500 | 48.824 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 5.065 | 37.560 | 0.797 | 61.643 | 37.958 | | Two-tone | 46.545 | 44.680 | 1.203 | 54.117 | 45.281 | | Monotone | 5.212 | 44.971 | 4.422 | 50.607 | 47.182 | | Paired | 17.334 | 45.906 | 6.918 | 47.176 | 49.365 | A rainbow flop shows three suits, a two-tone flop repeats one suit, a monotone flop is a single suit, and a paired flop repeats a rank. ## Compared with a random hand Compared with a random opponent, this matchup shifts 22 from 50.33% by -3.70 points and 87s from 47.94% by +5.43 points. **22 and 87s 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 | 46.633 | 50.334 | -3.701 | 0.92647 | | 22, rainbow, ten or higher | 48.824 | 50.334 | -1.510 | 0.97000 | | 22, rainbow, nine or lower | 37.958 | 50.334 | -12.376 | 0.75412 | | 22, two-tone | 45.281 | 50.334 | -5.053 | 0.89961 | | 22, monotone | 47.182 | 50.334 | -3.152 | 0.93738 | | 22, paired | 49.365 | 50.334 | -0.969 | 0.98075 | | 87s, all flops | 53.367 | 47.936 | +5.431 | 1.11330 | | 87s, rainbow, ten or higher | 51.176 | 47.936 | +3.240 | 1.06759 | | 87s, rainbow, nine or lower | 62.042 | 47.936 | +14.106 | 1.29427 | | 87s, two-tone | 54.719 | 47.936 | +6.783 | 1.14150 | | 87s, monotone | 52.818 | 47.936 | +4.882 | 1.10184 | | 87s, paired | 50.635 | 47.936 | +2.699 | 1.05630 | ## Does a shared suit matter? The suit split reads 53.23% for 87s with a shared suit and 53.51% without one. 87s does better with no shared suit, by 0.28 points. **22 against 87s by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | 22 wins | Ties | 87s wins | 22 equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 12 | 50.00 | 45.574 | 2.399 | 52.027 | 46.773 | | No shared suit | 12 | 50.00 | 45.312 | 2.360 | 52.328 | 46.492 | ## How often this matchup comes up 22 against 87s is made up of 24 specific-card matchups in one seat order, 0.0015% of the 1,624,350 ordered deals, and 48 counting both seat orders, 0.0030%. ## A worked example To see what the equity is worth, imagine $100 each in a $200 pot. 87s is worth $106.74 on average (+$6.74); 22 is worth $93.26 (-$6.74). Run 1,000 deals and the tally comes out near 522 for 87s, 454 for 22 and 24 ties. ## The same matchup from the other side 87s against 22 adds nothing new: it is 53.37% for 87s and 46.63% for 22, the same figures reversed. ## Keep exploring Try 2s2h against 8d7d 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 8d7d in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=2s2h&p2=8d7d) - [22 combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/22.md) - [87s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/87s.md) - [22 vs 86s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/22-vs-86s.md) - [22 vs 76s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/22-vs-76s.md) - [97s vs 87s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/97s-vs-87s.md) - [All hand matchups](https://georgelipoker.com/equity.md) ## How this was computed The page is built from a full enumeration: 1,712,304 boards, every suit pattern of the 24 specific deals, both seven-card hands evaluated. A tie is worth half a win to each hand, and a board is tallied under each of its ten possible flops for the texture rows. Source: our own exact count from the GeorgeLiPoker poker math library. No outside data is used. ## Related - [22 vs 86s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/22-vs-86s.md) - [22 vs 76s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/22-vs-76s.md) - [97s vs 87s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/97s-vs-87s.md)