--- title: "44 vs 98s: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/44-vs-98s.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/44-vs-98s" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "44 vs 98s is close to a coin flip before the flop: 47.39% to 52.61% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/44-vs-22.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/44-vs-97s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/j9s-vs-98s.md"] --- # 44 vs 98s: preflop equity 44 vs 98s is close to a coin flip before the flop: 47.39% to 52.61% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. Dealt all in against each other, 98s takes 52.61% of the pot on average and 44 takes the other 47.39%. ## 44 against 98s: the numbers **Exact preflop results for 44 against 98s, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 44 | 46.702 | 1.372 | 51.926 | 47.388 | | 98s | 51.926 | 1.372 | 46.702 | 52.612 | Here a pocket pair (44) meets a suited hand (98s). A pair against two higher cards is the classic race: the pair is usually a small favorite or close to even, and each overcard that pairs is a way to take the lead. 98s leads by less than 6 points of equity, so the result of any one deal is close to a toss-up. Ties are part of the picture: 1.37% of boards end in a split pot, and each side counts that as half a win. By strength against a random hand, 44 holds place 48 of 169 and 98s holds place 83. **Boards behind the percentages: 41,095,296 counted in all** | Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 44 | 19,192,000 | 564,000 | 21,339,000 | | 98s | 21,339,000 | 564,000 | 19,192,000 | The board total is exact, 24 deals at 1,712,304 boards each. Won, tied and lost counts are rounded to the nearest thousand from the five-decimal percentages. **44 against 98s 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 | 0.901 | 2.141 | 1.926 | 1.110 | | 98s | 1.110 | 1.926 | 2.141 | 0.901 | The last column is the break-even price: the pot odds a call needs to offer, as a ratio of pot to call. ## Who is ahead on which flops The flop changes the picture. 98s does best on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower), at 57.93%, and worst on paired flops, at 48.41%. 98s is the favorite overall but falls behind on paired flops. **44 against 98s by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | 44 wins | Ties | 98s wins | 44 equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 25.844 | 48.142 | 0.795 | 51.063 | 48.540 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 5.065 | 41.751 | 0.648 | 57.601 | 42.075 | | Two-tone | 46.545 | 45.329 | 0.736 | 53.935 | 45.697 | | Monotone | 5.212 | 46.376 | 3.159 | 50.465 | 47.956 | | Paired | 17.334 | 49.787 | 3.613 | 46.600 | 51.594 | 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 Against one random hand instead, 44 holds 57.02% and 98s holds 50.80%. Facing each other changes that by -9.63 points for 44 and +1.81 points for 98s. **44 and 98s 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 | 47.388 | 57.023 | -9.635 | 0.83103 | | 44, rainbow, ten or higher | 48.540 | 57.023 | -8.483 | 0.85124 | | 44, rainbow, nine or lower | 42.075 | 57.023 | -14.948 | 0.73786 | | 44, two-tone | 45.697 | 57.023 | -11.326 | 0.80138 | | 44, monotone | 47.956 | 57.023 | -9.067 | 0.84099 | | 44, paired | 51.594 | 57.023 | -5.429 | 0.90479 | | 98s, all flops | 52.612 | 50.801 | +1.811 | 1.03565 | | 98s, rainbow, ten or higher | 51.460 | 50.801 | +0.659 | 1.01297 | | 98s, rainbow, nine or lower | 57.925 | 50.801 | +7.124 | 1.14023 | | 98s, two-tone | 54.303 | 50.801 | +3.502 | 1.06894 | | 98s, monotone | 52.044 | 50.801 | +1.243 | 1.02447 | | 98s, paired | 48.406 | 50.801 | -2.395 | 0.95286 | ## Does a shared suit matter? Split by suits, the deals give 98s 52.48% when the hands overlap in a suit and 52.75% when they do not. 98s does better with no shared suit, by 0.27 points. **44 against 98s by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | 44 wins | Ties | 98s wins | 44 equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 12 | 50.00 | 46.818 | 1.408 | 51.774 | 47.522 | | No shared suit | 12 | 50.00 | 46.586 | 1.336 | 52.078 | 47.254 | ## 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 Say each player puts $100 in before the flop, making a $200 pot. On average 98s takes back $105.22 of it, which is $5.22 more than it put in, and 44 takes back $94.78, $5.22 less than it put in. Run 1,000 deals and the tally comes out near 519 for 98s, 467 for 44 and 14 ties. ## The same matchup from the other side 98s against 44 adds nothing new: it is 52.61% for 98s and 47.39% for 44, the same figures reversed. ## Keep exploring The calculator link fills in 4s4h against 9d8d, a deal where the two hands share no suit. Change any card to test your own hand. The neighboring matchups below swap one of the two hands for one of similar strength. - [Open 4s4h against 9d8d in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=4s4h&p2=9d8d) - [44 combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/44.md) - [98s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/98s.md) - [44 vs 22](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/44-vs-22.md) - [44 vs 97s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/44-vs-97s.md) - [J9s vs 98s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/j9s-vs-98s.md) - [All hand matchups](https://georgelipoker.com/equity.md) ## How this was computed All 1,712,304 five-card boards are dealt for every suit pattern among the 24 specific deals of 44 against 98s, and both hands are scored on each. That is a full count, so the percentages are exact. Ties are half a win each, and each board appears once per flop it contains. Source: our own exact count from the GeorgeLiPoker poker math library. No outside data is used. ## Related - [44 vs 22: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/44-vs-22.md) - [44 vs 97s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/44-vs-97s.md) - [J9s vs 98s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/j9s-vs-98s.md)