--- title: "44 vs 86s: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/44-vs-86s.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/44-vs-86s" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "44 vs 86s is close to a coin flip before the flop: 49.77% to 50.23% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/44-vs-76s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/44-vs-75s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/j9s-vs-86s.md"] --- # 44 vs 86s: preflop equity 44 vs 86s is close to a coin flip before the flop: 49.77% to 50.23% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. In equity, 86s against 44 stands at 50.23% to 49.77%, a gap of 0.46 points. ## 44 against 86s: the numbers **Exact preflop results for 44 against 86s, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 44 | 48.963 | 1.611 | 49.426 | 49.768 | | 86s | 49.426 | 1.611 | 48.963 | 50.232 | 44 and 86s are a pocket pair and a suited hand, in that order. One hand holds a pair and the other holds two cards that both outrank it, which keeps the equity closer than most people expect. That is a slim edge: neither hand is far ahead. Ties are 1.61% of the outcomes here; each tied board gives both hands half the pot. 44 ranks number 48 of 169 starting hands, and 86s ranks number 110, by equity against a random hand. **Boards behind the percentages: 41,095,296 counted in all** | Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 44 | 20,121,000 | 662,000 | 20,312,000 | | 86s | 20,312,000 | 662,000 | 20,121,000 | 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. **44 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) | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 44 | 0.991 | 2.042 | 2.023 | 1.009 | | 86s | 1.009 | 2.023 | 2.042 | 0.991 | 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 If you know the kind of flop that came, the numbers shift: 86s holds 57.96% on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower) and 46.24% on paired flops. On rainbow flops topped by a ten or better and paired flops the numbers flip and 44 is the one ahead. **44 against 86s by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | 44 wins | Ties | 86s wins | 44 equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 25.844 | 51.207 | 0.953 | 47.840 | 51.684 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 5.065 | 41.719 | 0.645 | 57.636 | 42.041 | | Two-tone | 46.545 | 47.654 | 0.858 | 51.488 | 48.083 | | Monotone | 5.212 | 47.912 | 3.256 | 48.832 | 49.540 | | Paired | 17.334 | 51.564 | 4.402 | 44.034 | 53.765 | 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 A random hand would give 44 57.02% and 86s 46.24%. Against each other the change is -7.25 points for 44 and +3.99 for 86s. **44 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 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 44, all flops | 49.768 | 57.023 | -7.255 | 0.87277 | | 44, rainbow, ten or higher | 51.684 | 57.023 | -5.339 | 0.90637 | | 44, rainbow, nine or lower | 42.041 | 57.023 | -14.982 | 0.73726 | | 44, two-tone | 48.083 | 57.023 | -8.940 | 0.84322 | | 44, monotone | 49.540 | 57.023 | -7.483 | 0.86877 | | 44, paired | 53.765 | 57.023 | -3.258 | 0.94287 | | 86s, all flops | 50.232 | 46.243 | +3.989 | 1.08626 | | 86s, rainbow, ten or higher | 48.316 | 46.243 | +2.073 | 1.04483 | | 86s, rainbow, nine or lower | 57.959 | 46.243 | +11.716 | 1.25336 | | 86s, two-tone | 51.917 | 46.243 | +5.674 | 1.12270 | | 86s, monotone | 50.460 | 46.243 | +4.217 | 1.09119 | | 86s, paired | 46.235 | 46.243 | -0.008 | 0.99983 | ## Does a shared suit matter? The suit split reads 50.10% for 86s with a shared suit and 50.36% without one. 86s does better with no shared suit, by 0.26 points. **44 against 86s by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | 44 wins | Ties | 86s wins | 44 equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 12 | 50.00 | 49.077 | 1.645 | 49.278 | 49.900 | | No shared suit | 12 | 50.00 | 48.849 | 1.577 | 49.574 | 49.637 | ## How often this matchup comes up Exactly 24 specific deals fit this matchup in one seat order, which is 0.0015% of 1,624,350; both orders together give 48, or 0.0030%. ## A worked example Try it with money: two players each put in $100 and the whole board runs out every possible way. 86s averages $100.46 from the $200, up $0.46; 44 averages $99.54, down $0.46. Run 1,000 deals and the tally comes out near 494 for 86s, 490 for 44 and 16 ties. ## The same matchup from the other side 86s versus 44 is this same page seen from the other hand: 50.23% for 86s, 49.77% for 44. ## Keep exploring Open the calculator with 4s4h against 8d6d already entered, a deal with no shared suit, and change any card to try your own hand. The matchups after it each swap one hand for a nearby one in the ranking. - [Open 4s4h against 8d6d in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=4s4h&p2=8d6d) - [44 combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/44.md) - [86s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/86s.md) - [44 vs 76s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/44-vs-76s.md) - [44 vs 75s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/44-vs-75s.md) - [J9s vs 86s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/j9s-vs-86s.md) - [All hand matchups](https://georgelipoker.com/equity.md) ## How this was computed This is an exact count with no sampling. For the 24 ways to deal one 44 and one 86s without reusing a card, grouped by suit pattern, every one of the 1,712,304 possible boards is dealt and both seven-card hands are compared. A tie counts as half a win in the equity column, and each board is counted once under each of its ten three-card flops. Source: our own exact count from the GeorgeLiPoker poker math library. No outside data is used. ## Related - [44 vs 76s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/44-vs-76s.md) - [44 vs 75s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/44-vs-75s.md) - [J9s vs 86s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/j9s-vs-86s.md)