--- title: "88 vs AKs: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-aks.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-aks" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "88 vs AKs is close to a coin flip before the flop: 52.48% to 47.52% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-77.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-aqs.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/99-vs-aks.md"] --- # 88 vs AKs: preflop equity 88 vs AKs is close to a coin flip before the flop: 52.48% to 47.52% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. Averaged over every possible board, 88 is ahead of AKs by 4.96 points of equity, 52.48% to 47.52%. ## 88 against AKs: the numbers **Exact preflop results for 88 against AKs, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 88 | 52.277 | 0.397 | 47.326 | 52.476 | | AKs | 47.326 | 0.397 | 52.277 | 47.524 | We compare a pocket pair with a suited hand. This is a pair against two overcards, a matchup that stays close because the other hand only needs one of its ranks to appear. That is a slim edge: neither hand is far ahead. The tie share is 0.40%: on those boards the pot is chopped and neither hand wins outright. Among the 169 starting hands, 88 is number 7 and AKs is number 8 by strength 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 | 21,483,000 | 163,000 | 19,449,000 | | AKs | 19,449,000 | 163,000 | 21,483,000 | Exact total: 24 deals times 1,712,304 boards. The other three counts come from the five-decimal percentages and are rounded to the nearest thousand, so read them as approximate. **88 against AKs 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 | 1.104 | 1.913 | 2.113 | 0.906 | | AKs | 0.906 | 2.113 | 1.913 | 1.104 | 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 30.85 points, from 46.48% on rainbow flops topped by a ten or better to 77.33% 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 AKs by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | 88 wins | Ties | AKs wins | 88 equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 24.595 | 46.405 | 0.154 | 53.441 | 46.482 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 6.314 | 76.899 | 0.868 | 22.233 | 77.333 | | Two-tone | 46.545 | 50.375 | 0.275 | 49.350 | 50.513 | | Monotone | 5.212 | 50.377 | 2.381 | 47.242 | 51.568 | | Paired | 17.334 | 57.321 | 0.301 | 42.378 | 57.472 | 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 -16.68 points, and AKs, from 67.05%, by -19.53. **88 and AKs 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 | 52.476 | 69.163 | -16.687 | 0.75873 | | 88, rainbow, ten or higher | 46.482 | 69.163 | -22.681 | 0.67206 | | 88, rainbow, nine or lower | 77.333 | 69.163 | +8.170 | 1.11813 | | 88, two-tone | 50.513 | 69.163 | -18.650 | 0.73035 | | 88, monotone | 51.568 | 69.163 | -17.595 | 0.74560 | | 88, paired | 57.472 | 69.163 | -11.691 | 0.83096 | | AKs, all flops | 47.524 | 67.045 | -19.521 | 0.70884 | | AKs, rainbow, ten or higher | 53.518 | 67.045 | -13.527 | 0.79824 | | AKs, rainbow, nine or lower | 22.667 | 67.045 | -44.378 | 0.33809 | | AKs, two-tone | 49.487 | 67.045 | -17.558 | 0.73812 | | AKs, monotone | 48.432 | 67.045 | -18.613 | 0.72238 | | AKs, paired | 42.528 | 67.045 | -24.517 | 0.63432 | ## Does a shared suit matter? Suit overlap shows up in the numbers. With a suit in common 88 has 52.66% equity, and with none in common it has 52.29%. 88 does better with a shared suit, by 0.37 points. **88 against AKs by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | 88 wins | Ties | AKs wins | 88 equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 12 | 50.00 | 52.443 | 0.442 | 47.115 | 52.664 | | No shared suit | 12 | 50.00 | 52.112 | 0.352 | 47.536 | 52.288 | ## How often this matchup comes up The class pair covers 24 combinations of specific cards in a fixed seat order, 0.0015% of 1,624,350, and 48 (0.0030%) in either order. ## A worked example Worked example: both players commit $100, so $200 sits in the middle. Over every board, 88's average share is $104.96 (a gain of $4.96) and AKs' is $95.04 (a loss of $4.96). A thousand deals look like this: 88 takes 523, AKs takes 473, 4 are ties. ## The same matchup from the other side If you came looking for AKs against 88, the numbers are the same with the hands swapped: 47.52% and 52.48%. ## Keep exploring Open the calculator with 8s8h against AdKd 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 AdKd in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=8s8h&p2=AdKd) - [88 combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/88.md) - [AKs combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/aks.md) - [88 vs 77](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-77.md) - [88 vs AQs](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-aqs.md) - [99 vs AKs](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/99-vs-aks.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 24 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 77: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-77.md) - [88 vs AQs: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-aqs.md) - [99 vs AKs: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/99-vs-aks.md)