--- title: "88 vs 55: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-55.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-55" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "88 is a big favorite over 55 before the flop: 81.04% to 18.96% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-qjs.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-k9s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/aks-vs-55.md"] --- # 88 vs 55: preflop equity 88 is a big favorite over 55 before the flop: 81.04% to 18.96% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. Counting every board, the equity split is 81.04% for 88 and 18.96% for 55, so 88 leads by 62.08 points. ## 88 against 55: the numbers **Exact preflop results for 88 against 55, in percent** | 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. **Boards behind the percentages: 61,642,944 counted in all** | 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. **88 against 55 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 | 4.275 | 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. **88 against 55 by flop texture, in percent** | 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. **88 and 55 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 | 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. **88 against 55 by suit overlap, in percent** | 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. - [Open 8s8h against 5d5c in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=8s8h&p2=5d5c) - [88 combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/88.md) - [55 combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/55.md) - [88 vs QJs](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-qjs.md) - [88 vs K9s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-k9s.md) - [AKs vs 55](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/aks-vs-55.md) - [All hand matchups](https://georgelipoker.com/equity.md) ## 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. ## Related - [88 vs QJs: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-qjs.md) - [88 vs K9s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-k9s.md) - [AKs vs 55: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/aks-vs-55.md)