--- title: "88 vs AQo: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-aqo.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-aqo" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "Who is ahead, 88 or AQo? 88 leads 55.28% to 44.72% before the flop, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-ajo.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-kqs.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/aks-vs-aqo.md"] --- # 88 vs AQo: preflop equity Who is ahead, 88 or AQo? 88 leads 55.28% to 44.72% before the flop, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. Averaged over every possible board, 88 is ahead of AQo by 10.56 points of equity, 55.28% to 44.72%. ## 88 against AQo: the numbers **Exact preflop results for 88 against AQo, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 88 | 55.093 | 0.369 | 44.538 | 55.278 | | AQo | 44.538 | 0.369 | 55.093 | 44.722 | We compare a pocket pair with an offsuit hand. A pair against two higher cards is the classic race: the pair is usually a small favorite or close to even, and each overcard that pairs is a way to take the lead. The lead is steady rather than large, and the flop still has plenty of say in who wins. A split pot comes up on 0.37% of boards, so the wins and the equity differ by half of that. Ranked by equity against a random hand, 88 is number 7 of the 169 starting hands and AQo is number 14. **Boards behind the percentages: 123,285,888 counted in all** | Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 88 | 67,922,000 | 455,000 | 54,909,000 | | AQo | 54,909,000 | 455,000 | 67,922,000 | The total is exact: 72 specific deals times 1,712,304 boards. The three counts are approximate, worked out from the percentages to five decimals and rounded to the nearest thousand. **88 against AQo 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 | 1.236 | 1.815 | 2.245 | 0.809 | | AQo | 0.809 | 2.245 | 1.815 | 1.236 | 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 Low rainbow flops (nine high or lower) are the best for 88 (79.93%); rainbow flops topped by a ten or better are the worst (48.15%). The overall edge for 88 hides rainbow flops topped by a ten or better, where AQo comes out in front. **88 against AQo by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | 88 wins | Ties | AQo wins | 88 equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 24.717 | 48.070 | 0.154 | 51.776 | 48.147 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 6.314 | 79.489 | 0.888 | 19.623 | 79.933 | | Two-tone | 46.485 | 54.133 | 0.291 | 45.576 | 54.278 | | Monotone | 5.151 | 50.862 | 1.689 | 47.449 | 51.707 | | Paired | 17.333 | 60.053 | 0.305 | 39.642 | 60.206 | 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 A random hand would give 88 69.16% and AQo 64.43%. Against each other the change is -13.88 points for 88 and -19.71 for AQo. **88 and AQo 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 | 55.278 | 69.163 | -13.885 | 0.79924 | | 88, rainbow, ten or higher | 48.147 | 69.163 | -21.016 | 0.69614 | | 88, rainbow, nine or lower | 79.933 | 69.163 | +10.770 | 1.15572 | | 88, two-tone | 54.278 | 69.163 | -14.885 | 0.78478 | | 88, monotone | 51.707 | 69.163 | -17.456 | 0.74761 | | 88, paired | 60.206 | 69.163 | -8.957 | 0.87049 | | AQo, all flops | 44.722 | 64.432 | -19.710 | 0.69410 | | AQo, rainbow, ten or higher | 51.853 | 64.432 | -12.579 | 0.80477 | | AQo, rainbow, nine or lower | 20.067 | 64.432 | -44.365 | 0.31144 | | AQo, two-tone | 45.722 | 64.432 | -18.710 | 0.70962 | | AQo, monotone | 48.293 | 64.432 | -16.139 | 0.74952 | | AQo, paired | 39.794 | 64.432 | -24.638 | 0.61761 | ## Does a shared suit matter? Split by suits, the deals give 88 55.20% when the hands overlap in a suit and 55.68% when they do not. 88 does better with no shared suit, by 0.48 points. **88 against AQo by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | 88 wins | Ties | AQo wins | 88 equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 60 | 83.33 | 55.004 | 0.385 | 44.611 | 55.196 | | No shared suit | 12 | 16.67 | 55.539 | 0.290 | 44.171 | 55.684 | ## How often this matchup comes up How often does it happen? 72 of the 1,624,350 ordered deals (0.0044%) are 88 against AQo, and 144 (0.0089%) if either hand may sit in either seat. ## A worked example A $100 all-in from each player makes a $200 pot, and the exact equity says 88 gets $110.56 of it on average and AQo gets $89.44. Scaled to 1,000 deals, that is roughly 551 wins for 88, 445 for AQo and 4 chopped pots. ## The same matchup from the other side The mirror image, AQo against 88, is 44.72% to 55.28%, and its address redirects to this page. ## Keep exploring 8s8h against AdQc 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 AdQc in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=8s8h&p2=AdQc) - [88 combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/88.md) - [AQo combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/aqo.md) - [88 vs AJo](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-ajo.md) - [88 vs KQs](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-kqs.md) - [AKs vs AQo](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/aks-vs-aqo.md) - [All hand matchups](https://georgelipoker.com/equity.md) ## How this was computed We counted every case. Each suit pattern of the 72 specific 88 against AQo deals meets all 1,712,304 boards, and the better five-card hand wins; a split pot is half a win each. The flop table reads each board under all ten of its three-card flops. Source: our own exact count from the GeorgeLiPoker poker math library. No outside data is used. ## Related - [88 vs AJo: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-ajo.md) - [88 vs KQs: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-kqs.md) - [AKs vs AQo: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/aks-vs-aqo.md)