--- title: "22 vs 97s: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/22-vs-97s.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/22-vs-97s" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "22 vs 97s is close to a coin flip before the flop: 47.27% to 52.73% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/22-vs-87s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/22-vs-86s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/98s-vs-97s.md"] --- # 22 vs 97s: preflop equity 22 vs 97s is close to a coin flip before the flop: 47.27% to 52.73% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. The exact count puts 97s at 52.73% and 22 at 47.27% when the two hands see all five board cards. ## 22 against 97s: the numbers **Exact preflop results for 22 against 97s, in percent** | 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. **Boards behind the percentages: 41,095,296 counted in all** | 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. **22 against 97s 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 | 0.896 | 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. **22 against 97s by flop texture, in percent** | 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. **22 and 97s 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 | 47.271 | 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. **22 against 97s by suit overlap, in percent** | 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. - [Open 2s2h against 9d7d in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=2s2h&p2=9d7d) - [22 combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/22.md) - [97s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/97s.md) - [22 vs 87s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/22-vs-87s.md) - [22 vs 86s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/22-vs-86s.md) - [98s vs 97s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/98s-vs-97s.md) - [All hand matchups](https://georgelipoker.com/equity.md) ## 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. ## Related - [22 vs 87s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/22-vs-87s.md) - [22 vs 86s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/22-vs-86s.md) - [98s vs 97s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/98s-vs-97s.md)