--- title: "88 vs AJo: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-ajo.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-ajo" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "Who is ahead, 88 or AJo? 88 leads 55.35% to 44.65% before the flop, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-kqs.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-66.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/aks-vs-ajo.md"] --- # 88 vs AJo: preflop equity Who is ahead, 88 or AJo? 88 leads 55.35% to 44.65% before the flop, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. The exact count puts 88 at 55.35% and AJo at 44.65% when the two hands see all five board cards. ## 88 against AJo: the numbers **Exact preflop results for 88 against AJo, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 88 | 55.168 | 0.363 | 44.469 | 55.350 | | AJo | 44.469 | 0.363 | 55.168 | 44.650 | The matchup pits a pocket pair against an offsuit hand. One hand holds a pair and the other holds two cards that both outrank it, which keeps the equity closer than most people expect. That is a modest edge, the kind that shows up over many hands and is easy to miss in one. Of every 100 boards, about 0.36 are split pots, and the equity figures already include them. In the ranking of all 169 starting hands, 88 is number 7 and AJo is number 15. **Boards behind the percentages: 123,285,888 counted in all** | Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 88 | 68,014,000 | 448,000 | 54,824,000 | | AJo | 54,824,000 | 448,000 | 68,014,000 | 72 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 AJo 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 | 1.240 | 1.813 | 2.249 | 0.807 | | AJo | 0.807 | 2.249 | 1.813 | 1.240 | 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 By flop texture, 88's equity runs from 48.30% on rainbow flops topped by a ten or better up to 79.68% on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower). 88 is the favorite overall but falls behind on rainbow flops topped by a ten or better. **88 against AJo by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | 88 wins | Ties | AJo wins | 88 equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 24.717 | 48.222 | 0.157 | 51.621 | 48.300 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 6.314 | 79.268 | 0.830 | 19.902 | 79.683 | | Two-tone | 46.485 | 54.203 | 0.282 | 45.515 | 54.344 | | Monotone | 5.151 | 50.894 | 1.683 | 47.423 | 51.736 | | Paired | 17.333 | 60.157 | 0.309 | 39.534 | 60.311 | 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 The table below sets each hand against its own random-hand baseline: a change of -13.81 points for 88, from 69.16%, and -18.91 for AJo, from 63.56%. **88 and AJo 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 | 55.350 | 69.163 | -13.813 | 0.80028 | | 88, rainbow, ten or higher | 48.300 | 69.163 | -20.863 | 0.69835 | | 88, rainbow, nine or lower | 79.683 | 69.163 | +10.520 | 1.15210 | | 88, two-tone | 54.344 | 69.163 | -14.819 | 0.78574 | | 88, monotone | 51.736 | 69.163 | -17.427 | 0.74803 | | 88, paired | 60.311 | 69.163 | -8.852 | 0.87201 | | AJo, all flops | 44.650 | 63.563 | -18.913 | 0.70245 | | AJo, rainbow, ten or higher | 51.700 | 63.563 | -11.863 | 0.81337 | | AJo, rainbow, nine or lower | 20.317 | 63.563 | -43.246 | 0.31964 | | AJo, two-tone | 45.656 | 63.563 | -17.907 | 0.71828 | | AJo, monotone | 48.264 | 63.563 | -15.299 | 0.75931 | | AJo, paired | 39.689 | 63.563 | -23.874 | 0.62440 | ## Does a shared suit matter? When the hands share a suit, 88 holds 55.27%; when they do not, it holds 55.76%. 88 does better with no shared suit, by 0.49 points. **88 against AJo by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | 88 wins | Ties | AJo wins | 88 equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 60 | 83.33 | 55.079 | 0.379 | 44.542 | 55.268 | | No shared suit | 12 | 16.67 | 55.616 | 0.283 | 44.101 | 55.758 | ## How often this matchup comes up You will meet this exact matchup 0.0089% of the time in a random heads-up deal: 144 of 1,624,350, counting either seat order. ## A worked example With $100 from each side, the $200 pot is split on average as $110.70 for 88 and $89.30 for AJo; the first side gains $10.70 per all-in and the second gives up $10.70. Per 1,000 deals: 88 wins about 552, AJo wins about 445, and about 3 end in a split pot. ## The same matchup from the other side The mirror image, AJo against 88, is 44.65% to 55.35%, and its address redirects to this page. ## Keep exploring Open the calculator with 8s8h against AdJc 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 AdJc in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=8s8h&p2=AdJc) - [88 combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/88.md) - [AJo combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/ajo.md) - [88 vs KQs](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-kqs.md) - [88 vs 66](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-66.md) - [AKs vs AJo](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/aks-vs-ajo.md) - [All hand matchups](https://georgelipoker.com/equity.md) ## How this was computed The figures are counted, not estimated: 1,712,304 boards for every suit pattern of the 72 specific deals, with both seven-card hands compared each time. Equity gives half a win for a tie. For the flop rows, a board is counted once under each of the ten flops inside it. Source: our own exact count from the GeorgeLiPoker poker math library. No outside data is used. ## Related - [88 vs KQs: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-kqs.md) - [88 vs 66: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-66.md) - [AKs vs AJo: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/aks-vs-ajo.md)