--- title: "66 vs 98s: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/66-vs-98s.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/66-vs-98s" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "66 vs 98s is close to a coin flip before the flop: 50.01% to 49.99% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/66-vs-22.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/66-vs-97s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a9s-vs-98s.md"] --- # 66 vs 98s: preflop equity 66 vs 98s is close to a coin flip before the flop: 50.01% to 49.99% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. Counting every board, the equity split is 50.01% for 66 and 49.99% for 98s, so 66 leads by 0.02 points. ## 66 against 98s: the numbers **Exact preflop results for 66 against 98s, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 66 | 49.583 | 0.846 | 49.571 | 50.006 | | 98s | 49.571 | 0.846 | 49.583 | 49.994 | We compare a pocket pair with a suited hand. This is a pair against two overcards, a matchup that stays close because the other hand only needs one of its ranks to appear. The split is even enough that who is called the favorite depends on the fourth decimal. Ties are 0.85% of the outcomes here; each tied board gives both hands half the pot. The hand ranking puts 66 at 17 and 98s at 83 out of 169 starting hands. **Boards behind the percentages: 41,095,296 counted in all** | Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 66 | 20,376,000 | 348,000 | 20,371,000 | | 98s | 20,371,000 | 348,000 | 20,376,000 | 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. **66 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) | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 66 | 1.000 | 2.017 | 2.017 | 1.000 | | 98s | 1.000 | 2.017 | 2.017 | 1.000 | 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 Across the five flop textures 66's equity moves by 8.70 points, from 46.93% on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower) to 55.63% on paired flops. The overall edge for 66 hides low rainbow flops (nine high or lower), two-tone flops and monotone flops, where 98s comes out in front. **66 against 98s by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | 66 wins | Ties | 98s wins | 66 equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 25.844 | 50.331 | 0.500 | 49.169 | 50.581 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 5.065 | 46.729 | 0.398 | 52.873 | 46.928 | | Two-tone | 46.545 | 47.745 | 0.461 | 51.794 | 47.976 | | Monotone | 5.212 | 48.260 | 2.621 | 49.119 | 49.570 | | Paired | 17.334 | 54.636 | 1.994 | 43.370 | 55.633 | Rainbow flops have three suits, two-tone flops repeat one suit, monotone flops are all one suit, and paired flops repeat a rank. ## Compared with a random hand How much does the opponent matter? Compared with its random-hand 63.29%, 66 changes by -13.28 points, and 98s, from 50.80%, by -0.81. **66 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 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 66, all flops | 50.006 | 63.285 | -13.279 | 0.79017 | | 66, rainbow, ten or higher | 50.581 | 63.285 | -12.704 | 0.79926 | | 66, rainbow, nine or lower | 46.928 | 63.285 | -16.357 | 0.74153 | | 66, two-tone | 47.976 | 63.285 | -15.309 | 0.75809 | | 66, monotone | 49.570 | 63.285 | -13.715 | 0.78328 | | 66, paired | 55.633 | 63.285 | -7.652 | 0.87909 | | 98s, all flops | 49.994 | 50.801 | -0.807 | 0.98411 | | 98s, rainbow, ten or higher | 49.419 | 50.801 | -1.382 | 0.97280 | | 98s, rainbow, nine or lower | 53.072 | 50.801 | +2.271 | 1.04470 | | 98s, two-tone | 52.024 | 50.801 | +1.223 | 1.02407 | | 98s, monotone | 50.430 | 50.801 | -0.371 | 0.99270 | | 98s, paired | 44.367 | 50.801 | -6.434 | 0.87335 | ## Does a shared suit matter? Looking only at deals where the hands share a suit, 66 has 50.12%; looking only at deals where they do not, 49.90%. The two rows differ by only 0.22 points, so suits barely change this matchup. **66 against 98s by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | 66 wins | Ties | 98s wins | 66 equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 12 | 50.00 | 49.672 | 0.886 | 49.442 | 50.115 | | No shared suit | 12 | 50.00 | 49.494 | 0.807 | 49.699 | 49.898 | ## How often this matchup comes up How often does it happen? 24 of the 1,624,350 ordered deals (0.0015%) are 66 against 98s, and 48 (0.0030%) if either hand may sit in either seat. ## A worked example Try it with money: two players each put in $100 and the whole board runs out every possible way. 66 averages $100.02 from the $200, up $0.02; 98s averages $99.98, down $0.02. Out of 1,000 deals you should see around 496 outright wins for 66, 496 for 98s, and 8 split pots. ## The same matchup from the other side The mirror image, 98s against 66, is 49.99% to 50.01%, and its address redirects to this page. ## Keep exploring 6s6h against 9d8d is a ready-made deal for the calculator, with no suit in common between the hands. The neighboring matchups below replace one hand with another of similar strength. - [Open 6s6h against 9d8d in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=6s6h&p2=9d8d) - [66 combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/66.md) - [98s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/98s.md) - [66 vs 22](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/66-vs-22.md) - [66 vs 97s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/66-vs-97s.md) - [A9s vs 98s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a9s-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 66 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 - [66 vs 22: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/66-vs-22.md) - [66 vs 97s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/66-vs-97s.md) - [A9s vs 98s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a9s-vs-98s.md)