--- title: "88 vs KQo: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-kqo.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-kqo" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "Who is ahead, 88 or KQo? 88 leads 53.87% to 46.13% before the flop, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-a7s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-a9o.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/aks-vs-kqo.md"] --- # 88 vs KQo: preflop equity Who is ahead, 88 or KQo? 88 leads 53.87% to 46.13% before the flop, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. Dealt all in against each other, 88 takes 53.87% of the pot on average and KQo takes the other 46.13%. ## 88 against KQo: the numbers **Exact preflop results for 88 against KQo, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 88 | 53.663 | 0.414 | 45.923 | 53.870 | | KQo | 45.923 | 0.414 | 53.663 | 46.130 | One side is a pocket pair, the other is an offsuit 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. 88 leads by less than 8 points of equity, so the result of any one deal is close to a toss-up. About 0.41% of boards chop the pot, which is why equity sits slightly above the win figure for both hands. Among the 169 starting hands, 88 is number 7 and KQo is number 23 by strength against a random hand. **Boards behind the percentages: 123,285,888 counted in all** | Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 88 | 66,159,000 | 510,000 | 56,617,000 | | KQo | 56,617,000 | 510,000 | 66,159,000 | Exact total: 72 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 KQo 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 | 1.168 | 1.863 | 2.178 | 0.856 | | KQo | 0.856 | 2.178 | 1.863 | 1.168 | 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 Low rainbow flops (nine high or lower) are the best for 88 (80.96%); rainbow flops topped by a ten or better are the worst (45.89%). KQo is ahead on rainbow flops topped by a ten or better, even though it trails 88 when every flop is counted. **88 against KQo by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | 88 wins | Ties | KQo wins | 88 equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 24.717 | 45.789 | 0.195 | 54.016 | 45.887 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 6.314 | 80.502 | 0.923 | 18.575 | 80.963 | | Two-tone | 46.485 | 52.581 | 0.329 | 47.090 | 52.745 | | Monotone | 5.151 | 49.724 | 1.716 | 48.560 | 50.582 | | Paired | 17.333 | 59.190 | 0.380 | 40.430 | 59.380 | 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 Relative to a random opponent, 88 changes by -15.29 points (baseline 69.16%) and KQo by -15.33 points (baseline 61.46%). **88 and KQo 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 | 53.870 | 69.163 | -15.293 | 0.77888 | | 88, rainbow, ten or higher | 45.887 | 69.163 | -23.276 | 0.66346 | | 88, rainbow, nine or lower | 80.963 | 69.163 | +11.800 | 1.17061 | | 88, two-tone | 52.745 | 69.163 | -16.418 | 0.76262 | | 88, monotone | 50.582 | 69.163 | -18.581 | 0.73134 | | 88, paired | 59.380 | 69.163 | -9.783 | 0.85855 | | KQo, all flops | 46.130 | 61.456 | -15.326 | 0.75062 | | KQo, rainbow, ten or higher | 54.113 | 61.456 | -7.343 | 0.88052 | | KQo, rainbow, nine or lower | 19.037 | 61.456 | -42.419 | 0.30977 | | KQo, two-tone | 47.255 | 61.456 | -14.201 | 0.76892 | | KQo, monotone | 49.418 | 61.456 | -12.038 | 0.80412 | | KQo, paired | 40.620 | 61.456 | -20.836 | 0.66096 | ## Does a shared suit matter? When the hands share a suit, 88 holds 53.79%; when they do not, it holds 54.30%. 88 does better with no shared suit, by 0.51 points. **88 against KQo by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | 88 wins | Ties | KQo wins | 88 equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 60 | 83.33 | 53.570 | 0.430 | 46.000 | 53.785 | | No shared suit | 12 | 16.67 | 54.130 | 0.334 | 45.536 | 54.297 | ## How often this matchup comes up The class pair covers 72 combinations of specific cards in a fixed seat order, 0.0044% of 1,624,350, and 144 (0.0089%) in either order. ## A worked example Say each player puts $100 in before the flop, making a $200 pot. On average 88 takes back $107.74 of it, which is $7.74 more than it put in, and KQo takes back $92.26, $7.74 less than it put in. Scaled to 1,000 deals, that is roughly 537 wins for 88, 459 for KQo and 4 chopped pots. ## The same matchup from the other side One page covers both views. From KQo's side the equity is 46.13%, and from 88's side it is 53.87%. ## Keep exploring Try 8s8h against KdQc in the calculator: the hands share no suit, and every card can be changed. The links after it are the closest matchups in the ranking. - [Open 8s8h against KdQc in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=8s8h&p2=KdQc) - [88 combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/88.md) - [KQo combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/kqo.md) - [88 vs A7s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-a7s.md) - [88 vs A9o](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-a9o.md) - [AKs vs KQo](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/aks-vs-kqo.md) - [All hand matchups](https://georgelipoker.com/equity.md) ## How this was computed This is an exact count with no sampling. For the 72 ways to deal one 88 and one KQo without reusing a card, grouped by suit pattern, every one of the 1,712,304 possible boards is dealt and both seven-card hands are compared. A tie counts as half a win in the equity column, and each board is counted once under each of its ten three-card flops. Source: our own exact count from the GeorgeLiPoker poker math library. No outside data is used. ## Related - [88 vs A7s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-a7s.md) - [88 vs A9o: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-a9o.md) - [AKs vs KQo: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/aks-vs-kqo.md)