--- title: "88 vs 97s: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-97s.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-97s" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "88 is a big favorite over 97s before the flop: 66.76% to 33.24% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-87s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-86s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/aks-vs-97s.md"] --- # 88 vs 97s: preflop equity 88 is a big favorite over 97s before the flop: 66.76% to 33.24% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. Counting every board, the equity split is 66.76% for 88 and 33.24% for 97s, so 88 leads by 33.52 points. ## 88 against 97s: the numbers **Exact preflop results for 88 against 97s, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 88 | 66.406 | 0.707 | 32.887 | 66.760 | | 97s | 32.887 | 0.707 | 66.406 | 33.240 | We compare a pocket pair with a suited hand. One of the other hand's cards outranks the pair and one is below it, which makes this a closer race than a pair against two small cards. 88 is well ahead, and 97s needs a specific kind of board to catch up. Ties are 0.71% of the outcomes here; each tied board gives both hands half the pot. Place 7 of 169 belongs to 88 and place 94 belongs to 97s in the ranking against a random hand. **Boards behind the percentages: 41,095,296 counted in all** | Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 88 | 27,290,000 | 291,000 | 13,515,000 | | 97s | 13,515,000 | 291,000 | 27,290,000 | 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. **88 against 97s 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 | 2.008 | 1.506 | 3.041 | 0.498 | | 97s | 0.498 | 3.041 | 1.506 | 2.008 | 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 Across the five flop textures 88's equity moves by 9.98 points, from 60.14% on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower) to 70.12% on paired flops. 88 stays ahead on all five textures. **88 against 97s by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | 88 wins | Ties | 97s wins | 88 equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 25.844 | 69.575 | 0.442 | 29.983 | 69.796 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 5.065 | 59.965 | 0.345 | 39.690 | 60.137 | | Two-tone | 46.545 | 64.839 | 0.402 | 34.759 | 65.040 | | Monotone | 5.212 | 61.096 | 2.492 | 36.412 | 62.342 | | Paired | 17.334 | 69.369 | 1.492 | 29.139 | 70.115 | Flop types: rainbow means three different suits, two-tone means one suit twice, monotone means one suit three times, paired means a repeated rank. ## Compared with a random hand How much does the opponent matter? Compared with its random-hand 69.16%, 88 changes by -2.40 points, and 97s, from 49.12%, by -15.88. **88 and 97s 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 | 66.760 | 69.163 | -2.403 | 0.96526 | | 88, rainbow, ten or higher | 69.796 | 69.163 | +0.633 | 1.00915 | | 88, rainbow, nine or lower | 60.137 | 69.163 | -9.026 | 0.86950 | | 88, two-tone | 65.040 | 69.163 | -4.123 | 0.94039 | | 88, monotone | 62.342 | 69.163 | -6.821 | 0.90138 | | 88, paired | 70.115 | 69.163 | +0.952 | 1.01376 | | 97s, all flops | 33.240 | 49.118 | -15.878 | 0.67674 | | 97s, rainbow, ten or higher | 30.204 | 49.118 | -18.914 | 0.61493 | | 97s, rainbow, nine or lower | 39.863 | 49.118 | -9.255 | 0.81158 | | 97s, two-tone | 34.960 | 49.118 | -14.158 | 0.71176 | | 97s, monotone | 37.658 | 49.118 | -11.460 | 0.76668 | | 97s, paired | 29.885 | 49.118 | -19.233 | 0.60843 | ## Does a shared suit matter? Does suit overlap move the numbers? 88 has 66.97% when the hands share a suit and 66.55% when they do not. 88 does better with a shared suit, by 0.42 points. **88 against 97s by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | 88 wins | Ties | 97s wins | 88 equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 12 | 50.00 | 66.601 | 0.747 | 32.652 | 66.974 | | No shared suit | 12 | 50.00 | 66.212 | 0.667 | 33.121 | 66.545 | ## 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 $133.52 (a gain of $33.52) and 97s' is $66.48 (a loss of $33.52). Think in thousands: about 664 of 1,000 go to 88, about 329 go to 97s, and about 7 are chopped. ## The same matchup from the other side The reversed view, 97s against 88, shows 33.24% for 97s and 66.76% for 88. It is the same count, so it redirects here. ## Keep exploring Open the calculator with 8s8h against 9d7d 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 8s8h against 9d7d in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=8s8h&p2=9d7d) - [88 combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/88.md) - [97s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/97s.md) - [88 vs 87s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-87s.md) - [88 vs 86s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-86s.md) - [AKs vs 97s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/aks-vs-97s.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 - [88 vs 87s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-87s.md) - [88 vs 86s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-86s.md) - [AKs vs 97s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/aks-vs-97s.md)