--- title: "55 vs 98s: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/55-vs-98s.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/55-vs-98s" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "55 vs 98s is close to a coin flip before the flop: 48.91% to 51.09% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/55-vs-22.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/55-vs-97s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/qjs-vs-98s.md"] --- # 55 vs 98s: preflop equity 55 vs 98s is close to a coin flip before the flop: 48.91% to 51.09% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. Before any board card is dealt, 98s holds 51.09% equity against 55, which leaves 55 with 48.91%. ## 55 against 98s: the numbers **Exact preflop results for 55 against 98s, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 55 | 48.359 | 1.096 | 50.545 | 48.907 | | 98s | 50.545 | 1.096 | 48.359 | 51.093 | 55, a pocket pair, plays 98s, a suited hand. 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. Split pots make up 1.10% of the boards, and both equity figures count them as half a win each. For context, 55 sits at number 27 of 169 starting hands and 98s at number 83 when each is run against a random hand. **Boards behind the percentages: 41,095,296 counted in all** | Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 55 | 19,873,000 | 450,000 | 20,772,000 | | 98s | 20,772,000 | 450,000 | 19,873,000 | 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. **55 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) | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 55 | 0.957 | 2.068 | 1.978 | 1.045 | | 98s | 1.045 | 1.978 | 2.068 | 0.957 | 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 Break the boards down by their first three cards and 98s is strongest on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower) (53.75%) and weakest on paired flops (46.27%). 98s is the favorite overall but falls behind on paired flops. **55 against 98s by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | 55 wins | Ties | 98s wins | 55 equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 25.844 | 49.177 | 0.653 | 50.170 | 49.504 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 5.065 | 45.985 | 0.529 | 53.486 | 46.249 | | Two-tone | 46.545 | 46.759 | 0.603 | 52.638 | 47.061 | | Monotone | 5.212 | 47.540 | 2.845 | 49.615 | 48.962 | | Paired | 17.334 | 52.372 | 2.722 | 44.906 | 53.733 | 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 Relative to a random opponent, 55 changes by -11.42 points (baseline 60.33%) and 98s by +0.29 points (baseline 50.80%). **55 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 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 55, all flops | 48.907 | 60.325 | -11.418 | 0.81073 | | 55, rainbow, ten or higher | 49.504 | 60.325 | -10.821 | 0.82062 | | 55, rainbow, nine or lower | 46.249 | 60.325 | -14.076 | 0.76666 | | 55, two-tone | 47.061 | 60.325 | -13.264 | 0.78012 | | 55, monotone | 48.962 | 60.325 | -11.363 | 0.81164 | | 55, paired | 53.733 | 60.325 | -6.592 | 0.89073 | | 98s, all flops | 51.093 | 50.801 | +0.292 | 1.00575 | | 98s, rainbow, ten or higher | 50.496 | 50.801 | -0.305 | 0.99400 | | 98s, rainbow, nine or lower | 53.751 | 50.801 | +2.950 | 1.05807 | | 98s, two-tone | 52.939 | 50.801 | +2.138 | 1.04209 | | 98s, monotone | 51.038 | 50.801 | +0.237 | 1.00467 | | 98s, paired | 46.267 | 50.801 | -4.534 | 0.91075 | ## Does a shared suit matter? Split by suits, the deals give 98s 50.97% when the hands overlap in a suit and 51.22% when they do not. 98s does better with no shared suit, by 0.25 points. **55 against 98s by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | 55 wins | Ties | 98s wins | 55 equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 12 | 50.00 | 48.462 | 1.136 | 50.402 | 49.030 | | No shared suit | 12 | 50.00 | 48.255 | 1.057 | 50.688 | 48.783 | ## 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 Worked example: both players commit $100, so $200 sits in the middle. Over every board, 98s' average share is $102.18 (a gain of $2.18) and 55's is $97.82 (a loss of $2.18). Think in thousands: about 505 of 1,000 go to 98s, about 484 go to 55, and about 11 are chopped. ## The same matchup from the other side 98s versus 55 is this same page seen from the other hand: 51.09% for 98s, 48.91% for 55. ## Keep exploring Open the calculator with 5s5h against 9d8d 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 5s5h against 9d8d in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=5s5h&p2=9d8d) - [55 combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/55.md) - [98s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/98s.md) - [55 vs 22](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/55-vs-22.md) - [55 vs 97s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/55-vs-97s.md) - [QJs vs 98s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/qjs-vs-98s.md) - [All hand matchups](https://georgelipoker.com/equity.md) ## How this was computed The figures are counted, not estimated: 1,712,304 boards for every suit pattern of the 24 specific deals, with both seven-card hands compared each time. Equity gives half a win for a tie. For the flop rows, a board is counted once under each of the ten flops inside it. Source: our own exact count from the GeorgeLiPoker poker math library. No outside data is used. ## Related - [55 vs 22: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/55-vs-22.md) - [55 vs 97s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/55-vs-97s.md) - [QJs vs 98s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/qjs-vs-98s.md)