88
81.04%
Wins 80.55%, ties 0.97%
55
18.96%
Wins 18.48%, ties 0.97%
88 against 55: the numbers
| Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 88 | 80.554 | 0.974 | 18.472 | 81.041 |
| 55 | 18.472 | 0.974 | 80.554 | 18.959 |
88 meets 55, and both are pocket pairs. A pair against a smaller pair is the classic crush: the smaller pair needs one of its two remaining cards to make a set.
This is one of the lopsided matchups: 55 wins only 18.48% of the boards outright. Ties are part of the picture: 0.97% of boards end in a split pot, and each side counts that as half a win.
By strength against a random hand, 88 holds place 7 of 169 and 55 holds place 27.
| Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about |
|---|---|---|---|
| 88 | 49,656,000 | 600,000 | 11,387,000 |
| 55 | 11,387,000 | 600,000 | 49,656,000 |
The total is exact: 36 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.
| Hand | Equity as odds (to 1) | Wins one deal in | Loses one deal in | Pot odds needed to call (to 1) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 88 | 4.275 | 1.241 | 5.414 | 0.234 |
| 55 | 0.234 | 5.414 | 1.241 | 4.275 |
The final column gives the least the pot must offer for each unit called for a call to break even at this equity.
Who is ahead on which flops
Paired flops are the best for 88 (85.73%); low rainbow flops (nine high or lower) are the worst (71.60%). 88 stays ahead on all five textures.
| Flop | Share of flops | 88 wins | Ties | 55 wins | 88 equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rainbow, ten or higher | 25.844 | 82.172 | 0.601 | 17.227 | 82.472 |
| Rainbow, nine or lower | 5.065 | 71.277 | 0.642 | 28.081 | 71.598 |
| Two-tone | 46.363 | 79.810 | 0.594 | 19.596 | 80.107 |
| Monotone | 5.152 | 74.502 | 2.113 | 23.385 | 75.559 |
| Paired | 17.576 | 84.583 | 2.288 | 13.129 | 85.727 |
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
A random hand would give 88 69.16% and 55 60.33%. Against each other the change is +11.88 points for 88 and -41.37 for 55.
| Case | Equity here | Against a random hand | Change in points | Times the random-hand equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 88, all flops | 81.041 | 69.163 | +11.878 | 1.17174 |
| 88, rainbow, ten or higher | 82.472 | 69.163 | +13.309 | 1.19243 |
| 88, rainbow, nine or lower | 71.598 | 69.163 | +2.435 | 1.03521 |
| 88, two-tone | 80.107 | 69.163 | +10.944 | 1.15823 |
| 88, monotone | 75.559 | 69.163 | +6.396 | 1.09248 |
| 88, paired | 85.727 | 69.163 | +16.564 | 1.23949 |
| 55, all flops | 18.959 | 60.325 | -41.366 | 0.31428 |
| 55, rainbow, ten or higher | 17.528 | 60.325 | -42.797 | 0.29056 |
| 55, rainbow, nine or lower | 28.402 | 60.325 | -31.923 | 0.47082 |
| 55, two-tone | 19.893 | 60.325 | -40.432 | 0.32976 |
| 55, monotone | 24.441 | 60.325 | -35.884 | 0.40516 |
| 55, paired | 14.273 | 60.325 | -46.052 | 0.23660 |
Does a shared suit matter?
The suit split reads 81.18% for 88 with a shared suit and 80.37% without one. 88 does better with a shared suit, by 0.81 points.
| Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | 88 wins | Ties | 55 wins | 88 equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Share a suit | 30 | 83.33 | 80.681 | 0.989 | 18.330 | 81.175 |
| No shared suit | 6 | 16.67 | 79.919 | 0.900 | 19.181 | 80.369 |
How often this matchup comes up
Counting specific cards, 88 against 55 appears in 36 of the 1,624,350 ordered heads-up deals (0.0022%), and in 72 when the seats are swapped too (0.0044%).
A worked example
Take a $200 pot built from $100 each. 88's equity of 81.04% is worth $162.08, a $62.08 edge, and 55's 18.96% is worth $37.92, which is $62.08 under its stake.
Think in thousands: about 805 of 1,000 go to 88, about 185 go to 55, and about 10 are chopped.
The same matchup from the other side
55 against 88 adds nothing new: it is 18.96% for 55 and 81.04% for 88, the same figures reversed.
Keep exploring
Try 8s8h against 5d5c in the calculator: the hands share no suit, and every card can be changed. The links after it are the closest matchups in the ranking.
How this was computed
Nothing here is simulated. The 36 deals of 88 against 55 fall into a few suit patterns, each dealt against all 1,712,304 boards, with both best five-card hands compared on every board. Ties give each hand half a win, and the flop rows count a board under each of its ten flops.
Source: our own exact count from the GeorgeLiPoker poker math library. No outside data is used.
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