22
47.27%
Wins 46.23%, ties 2.08%
97s
52.73%
Wins 51.69%, ties 2.08%
22 against 97s: the numbers
| Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 | 46.230 | 2.083 | 51.687 | 47.271 |
| 97s | 51.687 | 2.083 | 46.230 | 52.729 |
Here a pocket pair (22) meets a suited hand (97s). One hand holds a pair and the other holds two cards that both outrank it, which keeps the equity closer than most people expect.
This is close to even money, with 97s a little ahead. The tie share is 2.08%: on those boards the pot is chopped and neither hand wins outright.
Ranked by equity against a random hand, 22 is number 87 of the 169 starting hands and 97s is number 94.
| Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about |
|---|---|---|---|
| 22 | 18,998,000 | 856,000 | 21,241,000 |
| 97s | 21,241,000 | 856,000 | 18,998,000 |
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.
| Hand | Equity as odds (to 1) | Wins one deal in | Loses one deal in | Pot odds needed to call (to 1) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 | 0.896 | 2.163 | 1.935 | 1.115 |
| 97s | 1.115 | 1.935 | 2.163 | 0.896 |
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
Split by what the flop looks like, 97s peaks at 60.33% on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower) and bottoms out at 50.52% on rainbow flops topped by a ten or better. 97s stays ahead on all five textures.
| Flop | Share of flops | 22 wins | Ties | 97s wins | 22 equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rainbow, ten or higher | 25.844 | 48.885 | 1.182 | 49.933 | 49.476 |
| Rainbow, nine or lower | 5.065 | 39.290 | 0.761 | 59.949 | 39.670 |
| Two-tone | 46.545 | 45.496 | 1.061 | 53.443 | 46.027 |
| Monotone | 5.212 | 45.550 | 4.303 | 50.147 | 47.701 |
| Paired | 17.334 | 46.471 | 5.892 | 47.637 | 49.417 |
Flop types: rainbow means three different suits, two-tone means one suit twice, monotone means one suit three times, paired means a repeated rank.
Compared with a random hand
How much does the opponent matter? Compared with its random-hand 50.33%, 22 changes by -3.06 points, and 97s, from 49.12%, by +3.61.
| Case | Equity here | Against a random hand | Change in points | Times the random-hand equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22, all flops | 47.271 | 50.334 | -3.063 | 0.93915 |
| 22, rainbow, ten or higher | 49.476 | 50.334 | -0.858 | 0.98295 |
| 22, rainbow, nine or lower | 39.670 | 50.334 | -10.664 | 0.78814 |
| 22, two-tone | 46.027 | 50.334 | -4.307 | 0.91443 |
| 22, monotone | 47.701 | 50.334 | -2.633 | 0.94769 |
| 22, paired | 49.417 | 50.334 | -0.917 | 0.98178 |
| 97s, all flops | 52.729 | 49.118 | +3.611 | 1.07352 |
| 97s, rainbow, ten or higher | 50.524 | 49.118 | +1.406 | 1.02862 |
| 97s, rainbow, nine or lower | 60.330 | 49.118 | +11.212 | 1.22827 |
| 97s, two-tone | 53.973 | 49.118 | +4.855 | 1.09884 |
| 97s, monotone | 52.299 | 49.118 | +3.181 | 1.06476 |
| 97s, paired | 50.583 | 49.118 | +1.465 | 1.02983 |
Does a shared suit matter?
Does suit overlap move the numbers? 97s has 52.58% when the hands share a suit and 52.88% when they do not. 97s does better with no shared suit, by 0.30 points.
| Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | 22 wins | Ties | 97s wins | 22 equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Share a suit | 12 | 50.00 | 46.372 | 2.103 | 51.525 | 47.424 |
| No shared suit | 12 | 50.00 | 46.087 | 2.064 | 51.849 | 47.119 |
How often this matchup comes up
The class pair covers 24 combinations of specific cards in a fixed seat order, 0.0015% of 1,624,350, and 48 (0.0030%) in either order.
A worked example
Say each player puts $100 in before the flop, making a $200 pot. On average 97s takes back $105.46 of it, which is $5.46 more than it put in, and 22 takes back $94.54, $5.46 less than it put in.
Out of 1,000 deals you should see around 517 outright wins for 97s, 462 for 22, and 21 split pots.
The same matchup from the other side
The reversed view, 97s against 22, shows 52.73% for 97s and 47.27% for 22. It is the same count, so it redirects here.
Keep exploring
Try 2s2h against 9d7d 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.
How this was computed
Nothing here is simulated. The 24 deals of 22 against 97s 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.
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