--- title: "77 vs 98s: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/77-vs-98s.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/77-vs-98s" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "77 vs 98s is close to a coin flip before the flop: 51.00% to 49.00% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/77-vs-22.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/77-vs-97s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/aqs-vs-98s.md"] --- # 77 vs 98s: preflop equity 77 vs 98s is close to a coin flip before the flop: 51.00% to 49.00% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. Counting every board, the equity split is 51.00% for 77 and 49.00% for 98s, so 77 leads by 2.00 points. ## 77 against 98s: the numbers **Exact preflop results for 77 against 98s, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 77 | 50.648 | 0.699 | 48.653 | 50.997 | | 98s | 48.653 | 0.699 | 50.648 | 49.003 | 77 and 98s are a pocket pair and a suited hand, in that order. This is a pair against two overcards, a matchup that stays close because the other hand only needs one of its ranks to appear. This is close to even money, with 77 a little ahead. The tie share is 0.70%: on those boards the pot is chopped and neither hand wins outright. Among the 169 starting hands, 77 is number 9 and 98s is number 83 by strength against a random hand. **Boards behind the percentages: 41,095,296 counted in all** | Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 77 | 20,814,000 | 287,000 | 19,994,000 | | 98s | 19,994,000 | 287,000 | 20,814,000 | 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. **77 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) | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 77 | 1.041 | 1.974 | 2.055 | 0.961 | | 98s | 0.961 | 2.055 | 1.974 | 1.041 | 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 77 prefers paired flops, where it holds 57.40%, and likes low rainbow flops (nine high or lower) least, where it holds 46.40%. The lead reverses on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower) and two-tone flops: there 98s is the favorite even though 77 is ahead overall. **77 against 98s by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | 77 wins | Ties | 98s wins | 77 equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 25.844 | 51.545 | 0.443 | 48.012 | 51.766 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 5.065 | 46.226 | 0.345 | 53.429 | 46.398 | | Two-tone | 46.545 | 48.589 | 0.404 | 51.007 | 48.791 | | Monotone | 5.212 | 48.819 | 2.515 | 48.666 | 50.077 | | Paired | 17.334 | 56.681 | 1.430 | 41.889 | 57.396 | 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 A random hand would give 77 66.24% and 98s 50.80%. Against each other the change is -15.24 points for 77 and -1.80 for 98s. **77 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 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 77, all flops | 50.997 | 66.236 | -15.239 | 0.76993 | | 77, rainbow, ten or higher | 51.766 | 66.236 | -14.470 | 0.78154 | | 77, rainbow, nine or lower | 46.398 | 66.236 | -19.838 | 0.70050 | | 77, two-tone | 48.791 | 66.236 | -17.445 | 0.73662 | | 77, monotone | 50.077 | 66.236 | -16.159 | 0.75604 | | 77, paired | 57.396 | 66.236 | -8.840 | 0.86654 | | 98s, all flops | 49.003 | 50.801 | -1.798 | 0.96461 | | 98s, rainbow, ten or higher | 48.234 | 50.801 | -2.567 | 0.94947 | | 98s, rainbow, nine or lower | 53.602 | 50.801 | +2.801 | 1.05514 | | 98s, two-tone | 51.209 | 50.801 | +0.408 | 1.00803 | | 98s, monotone | 49.923 | 50.801 | -0.878 | 0.98272 | | 98s, paired | 42.604 | 50.801 | -8.197 | 0.83864 | ## Does a shared suit matter? Looking only at deals where the hands share a suit, 77 has 51.09%; looking only at deals where they do not, 50.90%. The two rows differ by only 0.19 points, so suits barely change this matchup. **77 against 98s by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | 77 wins | Ties | 98s wins | 77 equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 12 | 50.00 | 50.721 | 0.739 | 48.540 | 51.091 | | No shared suit | 12 | 50.00 | 50.574 | 0.660 | 48.766 | 50.904 | ## How often this matchup comes up How often does it happen? 24 of the 1,624,350 ordered deals (0.0015%) are 77 against 98s, and 48 (0.0030%) if either hand may sit in either seat. ## A worked example With $100 from each side, the $200 pot is split on average as $102.00 for 77 and $98.00 for 98s; the first side gains $2.00 per all-in and the second gives up $2.00. Scaled to 1,000 deals, that is roughly 506 wins for 77, 487 for 98s and 7 chopped pots. ## The same matchup from the other side One page covers both views. From 98s' side the equity is 49.00%, and from 77's side it is 51.00%. ## Keep exploring Open the calculator with 7s7h 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 7s7h against 9d8d in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=7s7h&p2=9d8d) - [77 combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/77.md) - [98s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/98s.md) - [77 vs 22](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/77-vs-22.md) - [77 vs 97s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/77-vs-97s.md) - [AQs vs 98s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/aqs-vs-98s.md) - [All hand matchups](https://georgelipoker.com/equity.md) ## How this was computed Each figure is a complete count over boards. Take the 24 specific deals, group them by suit pattern, deal all 1,712,304 boards against each, and compare the two seven-card hands. Equity counts a tie as half a win; the flop rows use every one of a board's ten flops. Source: our own exact count from the GeorgeLiPoker poker math library. No outside data is used. ## Related - [77 vs 22: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/77-vs-22.md) - [77 vs 97s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/77-vs-97s.md) - [AQs vs 98s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/aqs-vs-98s.md)