--- title: "88 vs A5s: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-a5s.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-a5s" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "88 is a big favorite over A5s before the flop: 65.94% to 34.06% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-a6s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-kto.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/aks-vs-a5s.md"] --- # 88 vs A5s: preflop equity 88 is a big favorite over A5s before the flop: 65.94% to 34.06% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. If 88 and A5s get all the chips in before the flop, 88 owns 65.94% of the pot in the long run and A5s owns 34.06%. ## 88 against A5s: the numbers **Exact preflop results for 88 against A5s, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 88 | 65.734 | 0.414 | 33.852 | 65.941 | | A5s | 33.852 | 0.414 | 65.734 | 34.059 | We compare a pocket pair with a suited hand. The pair is ahead of one card and behind the other, so the board decides how that plays out. A lead of 31.88 points is large but not decisive: A5s still takes about 339 of every 1,000 deals. Split pots make up 0.41% of the boards, and both equity figures count them as half a win each. By strength against a random hand, 88 holds place 7 of 169 and A5s holds place 30. **Boards behind the percentages: 41,095,296 counted in all** | Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 88 | 27,014,000 | 170,000 | 13,912,000 | | A5s | 13,912,000 | 170,000 | 27,014,000 | 24 specific deals times 1,712,304 boards gives the exact total. The won, tied and lost counts are approximations from the five-decimal percentages, rounded to the nearest thousand. **88 against A5s 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 | 1.936 | 1.521 | 2.954 | 0.517 | | A5s | 0.517 | 2.954 | 1.521 | 1.936 | 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 Split by what the flop looks like, 88 peaks at 75.42% on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower) and bottoms out at 62.16% on monotone flops. 88 stays ahead on all five textures. **88 against A5s by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | 88 wins | Ties | A5s wins | 88 equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 25.220 | 65.679 | 0.199 | 34.122 | 65.778 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 5.689 | 75.037 | 0.759 | 24.204 | 75.416 | | Two-tone | 46.545 | 64.291 | 0.282 | 35.427 | 64.432 | | Monotone | 5.212 | 60.965 | 2.393 | 36.642 | 62.162 | | Paired | 17.334 | 68.069 | 0.374 | 31.557 | 68.256 | 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 Against one random hand instead, 88 holds 69.16% and A5s holds 59.92%. Facing each other changes that by -3.22 points for 88 and -25.86 points for A5s. **88 and A5s 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 | 65.941 | 69.163 | -3.222 | 0.95341 | | 88, rainbow, ten or higher | 65.778 | 69.163 | -3.385 | 0.95106 | | 88, rainbow, nine or lower | 75.416 | 69.163 | +6.253 | 1.09041 | | 88, two-tone | 64.432 | 69.163 | -4.731 | 0.93160 | | 88, monotone | 62.162 | 69.163 | -7.001 | 0.89878 | | 88, paired | 68.256 | 69.163 | -0.907 | 0.98689 | | A5s, all flops | 34.059 | 59.923 | -25.864 | 0.56838 | | A5s, rainbow, ten or higher | 34.222 | 59.923 | -25.701 | 0.57110 | | A5s, rainbow, nine or lower | 24.584 | 59.923 | -35.339 | 0.41026 | | A5s, two-tone | 35.568 | 59.923 | -24.355 | 0.59356 | | A5s, monotone | 37.838 | 59.923 | -22.085 | 0.63144 | | A5s, paired | 31.744 | 59.923 | -28.179 | 0.52975 | ## Does a shared suit matter? Does suit overlap move the numbers? 88 has 66.22% when the hands share a suit and 65.67% when they do not. 88 does better with a shared suit, by 0.55 points. **88 against A5s by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | 88 wins | Ties | A5s wins | 88 equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 12 | 50.00 | 65.988 | 0.459 | 33.553 | 66.217 | | No shared suit | 12 | 50.00 | 65.480 | 0.369 | 34.151 | 65.665 | ## How often this matchup comes up Counting specific cards, 88 against A5s appears in 24 of the 1,624,350 ordered heads-up deals (0.0015%), and in 48 when the seats are swapped too (0.0030%). ## A worked example Take a $200 pot built from $100 each. 88's equity of 65.94% is worth $131.88, a $31.88 edge, and A5s' 34.06% is worth $68.12, which is $31.88 under its stake. Run 1,000 deals and the tally comes out near 657 for 88, 339 for A5s and 4 ties. ## The same matchup from the other side Read it from the other side: A5s against 88 is the same matchup with the numbers swapped, so A5s holds 34.06% and 88 holds 65.94%. That address sends you back to this page. ## Keep exploring 8s8h against Ad5d 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 Ad5d in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=8s8h&p2=Ad5d) - [88 combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/88.md) - [A5s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/a5s.md) - [88 vs A6s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-a6s.md) - [88 vs KTo](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-kto.md) - [AKs vs A5s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/aks-vs-a5s.md) - [All hand matchups](https://georgelipoker.com/equity.md) ## How this was computed All 1,712,304 five-card boards are dealt for every suit pattern among the 24 specific deals of 88 against A5s, and both hands are scored on each. That is a full count, so the percentages are exact. Ties are half a win each, and each board appears once per flop it contains. Source: our own exact count from the GeorgeLiPoker poker math library. No outside data is used. ## Related - [88 vs A6s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-a6s.md) - [88 vs KTo: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-kto.md) - [AKs vs A5s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/aks-vs-a5s.md)