--- title: "88 vs KJs: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-kjs.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-kjs" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "88 vs KJs is close to a coin flip before the flop: 51.40% to 48.60% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-a8s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-kts.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/aks-vs-kjs.md"] --- # 88 vs KJs: preflop equity 88 vs KJs is close to a coin flip before the flop: 51.40% to 48.60% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. Counting every board, the equity split is 51.40% for 88 and 48.60% for KJs, so 88 leads by 2.80 points. ## 88 against KJs: the numbers **Exact preflop results for 88 against KJs, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 88 | 51.187 | 0.428 | 48.385 | 51.401 | | KJs | 48.385 | 0.428 | 51.187 | 48.599 | One side is a pocket pair, the other is a suited 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. This is close to even money, with 88 a little ahead. A split pot comes up on 0.43% of boards, so the wins and the equity differ by half of that. In the ranking of all 169 starting hands, 88 is number 7 and KJs is number 20. **Boards behind the percentages: 41,095,296 counted in all** | Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 88 | 21,035,000 | 176,000 | 19,884,000 | | KJs | 19,884,000 | 176,000 | 21,035,000 | 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 KJs 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 | 1.058 | 1.954 | 2.067 | 0.945 | | KJs | 0.945 | 2.067 | 1.954 | 1.058 | 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 (77.99%); rainbow flops topped by a ten or better are the worst (44.70%). KJs is ahead on rainbow flops topped by a ten or better and two-tone flops, even though it trails 88 when every flop is counted. **88 against KJs by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | 88 wins | Ties | KJs wins | 88 equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 24.595 | 44.603 | 0.190 | 55.207 | 44.698 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 6.314 | 77.576 | 0.826 | 21.598 | 77.989 | | Two-tone | 46.545 | 49.211 | 0.296 | 50.493 | 49.359 | | Monotone | 5.212 | 49.552 | 2.397 | 48.051 | 50.751 | | Paired | 17.334 | 56.718 | 0.380 | 42.902 | 56.908 | A rainbow flop shows three suits, a two-tone flop repeats one suit, a monotone flop is a single suit, and a paired flop repeats a rank. ## Compared with a random hand Compared with a random opponent, this matchup shifts 88 from 69.16% by -17.76 points and KJs from 62.57% by -13.97 points. **88 and KJs 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 | 51.401 | 69.163 | -17.762 | 0.74319 | | 88, rainbow, ten or higher | 44.698 | 69.163 | -24.465 | 0.64627 | | 88, rainbow, nine or lower | 77.989 | 69.163 | +8.826 | 1.12761 | | 88, two-tone | 49.359 | 69.163 | -19.804 | 0.71366 | | 88, monotone | 50.751 | 69.163 | -18.412 | 0.73379 | | 88, paired | 56.908 | 69.163 | -12.255 | 0.82281 | | KJs, all flops | 48.599 | 62.567 | -13.968 | 0.77675 | | KJs, rainbow, ten or higher | 55.302 | 62.567 | -7.265 | 0.88388 | | KJs, rainbow, nine or lower | 22.011 | 62.567 | -40.556 | 0.35180 | | KJs, two-tone | 50.641 | 62.567 | -11.926 | 0.80939 | | KJs, monotone | 49.249 | 62.567 | -13.318 | 0.78714 | | KJs, paired | 43.092 | 62.567 | -19.475 | 0.68873 | ## Does a shared suit matter? Of the deals of this matchup, 12 share a suit (88 at 51.57%) and 12 do not (51.24%). 88 does better with a shared suit, by 0.33 points. **88 against KJs by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | 88 wins | Ties | KJs wins | 88 equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 12 | 50.00 | 51.329 | 0.471 | 48.200 | 51.565 | | No shared suit | 12 | 50.00 | 51.045 | 0.385 | 48.570 | 51.238 | ## How often this matchup comes up Counting specific cards, 88 against KJs 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 Worked example: both players commit $100, so $200 sits in the middle. Over every board, 88's average share is $102.80 (a gain of $2.80) and KJs' is $97.20 (a loss of $2.80). In 1,000 deals of exactly this matchup, expect about 512 won outright by 88, about 484 won outright by KJs and about 4 split. ## The same matchup from the other side Swap the hands and you get KJs with 48.60% against 88 with 51.40%. We keep one page per matchup, with the better-ranked hand first. ## Keep exploring Open the calculator with 8s8h against KdJd 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 KdJd in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=8s8h&p2=KdJd) - [88 combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/88.md) - [KJs combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/kjs.md) - [88 vs A8s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-a8s.md) - [88 vs KTs](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-kts.md) - [AKs vs KJs](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/aks-vs-kjs.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 24 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 A8s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-a8s.md) - [88 vs KTs: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-kts.md) - [AKs vs KJs: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/aks-vs-kjs.md)