--- title: "88 vs 43s: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-43s.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-43s" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "88 is a big favorite over 43s before the flop: 80.03% to 19.98% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/aks-vs-43s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-53s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/99-vs-43s.md"] --- # 88 vs 43s: preflop equity 88 is a big favorite over 43s before the flop: 80.03% to 19.98% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. Over all 1,712,304 boards that can follow this deal, 88 finishes with 80.03% of the pot and 43s with 19.97%. ## 88 against 43s: the numbers **Exact preflop results for 88 against 43s, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 88 | 79.536 | 0.978 | 19.486 | 80.025 | | 43s | 19.486 | 0.978 | 79.536 | 19.975 | 88 is a pocket pair and 43s is a suited hand. A pair against two lower cards is a lopsided matchup: the pair is ahead and the other hand has no overcard to catch. This is one of the lopsided matchups: 43s wins only 19.48% of the boards outright. A split pot comes up on 0.98% of boards, so the wins and the equity differ by half of that. Ranked by equity against a random hand, 88 is number 7 of the 169 starting hands and 43s is number 150. **Boards behind the percentages: 41,095,296 counted in all** | Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 88 | 32,686,000 | 402,000 | 8,008,000 | | 43s | 8,008,000 | 402,000 | 32,686,000 | The total is exact: 24 specific deals times 1,712,304 boards. The three counts are approximate, worked out from the percentages to five decimals and rounded to the nearest thousand. **88 against 43s read as odds** | Hand | Equity as odds (to 1) | Wins one deal in | Loses one deal in | Pot odds needed to call (to 1) | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 88 | 4.006 | 1.257 | 5.132 | 0.250 | | 43s | 0.250 | 5.132 | 1.257 | 4.006 | The last column is the smallest pot odds, written as a pot-to-call ratio, at which a call breaks even with this equity. ## Who is ahead on which flops The flop changes the picture. 88 does best on rainbow flops topped by a ten or better, at 83.85%, and worst on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower), at 72.51%. 88 stays ahead on all five textures. **88 against 43s by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | 88 wins | Ties | 43s wins | 88 equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 25.844 | 83.560 | 0.582 | 15.858 | 83.851 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 5.065 | 72.104 | 0.810 | 27.086 | 72.509 | | Two-tone | 46.545 | 78.117 | 0.580 | 21.303 | 78.407 | | Monotone | 5.212 | 73.343 | 2.749 | 23.908 | 74.718 | | Paired | 17.334 | 81.381 | 2.154 | 16.465 | 82.458 | 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 Relative to a random opponent, 88 changes by +10.87 points (baseline 69.16%) and 43s by -18.67 points (baseline 38.64%). **88 and 43s 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 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 88, all flops | 80.025 | 69.163 | +10.862 | 1.15705 | | 88, rainbow, ten or higher | 83.851 | 69.163 | +14.688 | 1.21237 | | 88, rainbow, nine or lower | 72.509 | 69.163 | +3.346 | 1.04838 | | 88, two-tone | 78.407 | 69.163 | +9.244 | 1.13366 | | 88, monotone | 74.718 | 69.163 | +5.555 | 1.08032 | | 88, paired | 82.458 | 69.163 | +13.295 | 1.19223 | | 43s, all flops | 19.975 | 38.642 | -18.667 | 0.51692 | | 43s, rainbow, ten or higher | 16.149 | 38.642 | -22.493 | 0.41791 | | 43s, rainbow, nine or lower | 27.491 | 38.642 | -11.151 | 0.71143 | | 43s, two-tone | 21.593 | 38.642 | -17.049 | 0.55880 | | 43s, monotone | 25.282 | 38.642 | -13.360 | 0.65426 | | 43s, paired | 17.542 | 38.642 | -21.100 | 0.45396 | ## Does a shared suit matter? Of the deals of this matchup, 12 share a suit (88 at 80.62%) and 12 do not (79.43%). 88 does better with a shared suit, by 1.19 points. **88 against 43s by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | 88 wins | Ties | 43s wins | 88 equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 12 | 50.00 | 80.110 | 1.018 | 18.872 | 80.619 | | No shared suit | 12 | 50.00 | 78.962 | 0.938 | 20.100 | 79.431 | ## 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, 88's average share is $160.06 (a gain of $60.06) and 43s' is $39.94 (a loss of $60.06). Per 1,000 deals: 88 wins about 795, 43s wins about 195, and about 10 end in a split pot. ## The same matchup from the other side 43s against 88 adds nothing new: it is 19.97% for 43s and 80.03% for 88, the same figures reversed. ## Keep exploring 8s8h against 4d3d 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 8s8h against 4d3d in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=8s8h&p2=4d3d) - [88 combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/88.md) - [43s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/43s.md) - [AKs vs 43s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/aks-vs-43s.md) - [88 vs 53s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-53s.md) - [99 vs 43s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/99-vs-43s.md) - [All hand matchups](https://georgelipoker.com/equity.md) ## How this was computed Method: exact enumeration. The 24 specific deals are grouped by suit pattern, each is run against all 1,712,304 boards, and both seven-card hands are scored. Equity adds half of every tie, and flop textures are tallied over the ten flops inside each board. Source: our own exact count from the GeorgeLiPoker poker math library. No outside data is used. ## Related - [AKs vs 43s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/aks-vs-43s.md) - [88 vs 53s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-53s.md) - [99 vs 43s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/99-vs-43s.md)