--- title: "88 vs 98s: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-98s.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-98s" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "88 is a big favorite over 98s before the flop: 61.00% to 39.01% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-22.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-97s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/aks-vs-98s.md"] --- # 88 vs 98s: preflop equity 88 is a big favorite over 98s before the flop: 61.00% to 39.01% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. Averaged over every possible board, 88 is ahead of 98s by 22.00 points of equity, 61.00% to 39.00%. ## 88 against 98s: the numbers **Exact preflop results for 88 against 98s, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 88 | 59.945 | 2.101 | 37.954 | 60.995 | | 98s | 37.954 | 2.101 | 59.945 | 39.005 | The matchup pits a pocket pair against a suited hand. The pair already holds one of the other hand's ranks, and that overlap cuts down the cards the other hand can pair with. A 22.00 point lead is real, and 98s still takes about 380 of every 1,000 deals outright. Ties are 2.10% of the outcomes here; each tied board gives both hands half the pot. By strength against a random hand, 88 holds place 7 of 169 and 98s holds place 83. **Boards behind the percentages: 20,547,648 counted in all** | Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 88 | 12,317,000 | 432,000 | 7,799,000 | | 98s | 7,799,000 | 432,000 | 12,317,000 | The board total is exact, 12 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 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) | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 88 | 1.564 | 1.668 | 2.635 | 0.639 | | 98s | 0.639 | 2.635 | 1.668 | 1.564 | 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 Across the five flop textures 88's equity moves by 14.45 points, from 52.83% on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower) to 67.28% on paired flops. 88 stays ahead on all five textures. **88 against 98s by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | 88 wins | Ties | 98s wins | 88 equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 25.786 | 62.145 | 1.929 | 35.926 | 63.110 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 4.995 | 51.128 | 3.404 | 45.468 | 52.830 | | Two-tone | 46.236 | 57.583 | 2.010 | 40.407 | 58.588 | | Monotone | 5.152 | 56.759 | 2.881 | 40.360 | 58.199 | | Paired | 17.831 | 66.278 | 1.996 | 31.726 | 67.276 | 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 A random hand would give 88 69.16% and 98s 50.80%. Against each other the change is -8.16 points for 88 and -11.80 for 98s. **88 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 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 88, all flops | 60.995 | 69.163 | -8.168 | 0.88190 | | 88, rainbow, ten or higher | 63.110 | 69.163 | -6.053 | 0.91248 | | 88, rainbow, nine or lower | 52.830 | 69.163 | -16.333 | 0.76385 | | 88, two-tone | 58.588 | 69.163 | -10.575 | 0.84710 | | 88, monotone | 58.199 | 69.163 | -10.964 | 0.84148 | | 88, paired | 67.276 | 69.163 | -1.887 | 0.97272 | | 98s, all flops | 39.005 | 50.801 | -11.796 | 0.76780 | | 98s, rainbow, ten or higher | 36.890 | 50.801 | -13.911 | 0.72617 | | 98s, rainbow, nine or lower | 47.170 | 50.801 | -3.631 | 0.92853 | | 98s, two-tone | 41.412 | 50.801 | -9.389 | 0.81518 | | 98s, monotone | 41.801 | 50.801 | -9.000 | 0.82284 | | 98s, paired | 32.724 | 50.801 | -18.077 | 0.64416 | ## Does a shared suit matter? A shared suit is impossible for this matchup, so 88's 61.00% is the answer for every suit pattern. **88 against 98s by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | 88 wins | Ties | 98s wins | 88 equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 0 | 0.00 | not possible | not possible | not possible | not possible | | No shared suit | 12 | 100.00 | 59.945 | 2.101 | 37.954 | 60.995 | ## How often this matchup comes up The class pair covers 12 combinations of specific cards in a fixed seat order, 0.0007% of 1,624,350, and 24 (0.0015%) in either order. ## A worked example A $100 all-in from each player makes a $200 pot, and the exact equity says 88 gets $122.00 of it on average and 98s gets $78.00. Scaled to 1,000 deals, that is roughly 599 wins for 88, 380 for 98s and 21 chopped pots. ## The same matchup from the other side One page covers both views. From 98s' side the equity is 39.00%, and from 88's side it is 61.00%. ## Keep exploring 8s8h against 9d8d 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 9d8d in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=8s8h&p2=9d8d) - [88 combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/88.md) - [98s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/98s.md) - [88 vs 22](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-22.md) - [88 vs 97s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-97s.md) - [AKs vs 98s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/aks-vs-98s.md) - [All hand matchups](https://georgelipoker.com/equity.md) ## How this was computed The page is built from a full enumeration: 1,712,304 boards, every suit pattern of the 12 specific deals, both seven-card hands evaluated. A tie is worth half a win to each hand, and a board is tallied under each of its ten possible flops for the texture rows. Source: our own exact count from the GeorgeLiPoker poker math library. No outside data is used. ## Related - [88 vs 22: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-22.md) - [88 vs 97s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-97s.md) - [AKs vs 98s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/aks-vs-98s.md)