--- title: "88 vs KTs: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-kts.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-kts" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "88 vs KTs is close to a coin flip before the flop: 51.48% to 48.52% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-kqo.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-a7s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/aks-vs-kts.md"] --- # 88 vs KTs: preflop equity 88 vs KTs is close to a coin flip before the flop: 51.48% to 48.52% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. In equity, 88 against KTs stands at 51.48% to 48.52%, a gap of 2.96 points. ## 88 against KTs: the numbers **Exact preflop results for 88 against KTs, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 88 | 51.267 | 0.423 | 48.310 | 51.478 | | KTs | 48.310 | 0.423 | 51.267 | 48.522 | 88 is a pocket pair and KTs is a suited 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. 88 leads by less than 3 points of equity, so the result of any one deal is close to a toss-up. Split pots make up 0.42% of the boards, and both equity figures count them as half a win each. Among the 169 starting hands, 88 is number 7 and KTs is number 22 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 | 21,068,000 | 174,000 | 19,853,000 | | KTs | 19,853,000 | 174,000 | 21,068,000 | 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 KTs 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 | 1.061 | 1.951 | 2.070 | 0.943 | | KTs | 0.943 | 2.070 | 1.951 | 1.061 | 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 Break the boards down by their first three cards and 88 is strongest on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower) (77.61%) and weakest on rainbow flops topped by a ten or better (44.89%). The lead reverses on rainbow flops topped by a ten or better and two-tone flops: there KTs is the favorite even though 88 is ahead overall. **88 against KTs by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | 88 wins | Ties | KTs wins | 88 equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 24.595 | 44.781 | 0.210 | 55.009 | 44.886 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 6.314 | 77.259 | 0.710 | 22.031 | 77.614 | | Two-tone | 46.545 | 49.288 | 0.290 | 50.422 | 49.433 | | Monotone | 5.212 | 49.592 | 2.394 | 48.014 | 50.789 | | Paired | 17.334 | 56.819 | 0.384 | 42.797 | 57.011 | 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 Each hand has a baseline against a random hand: 69.16% for 88, 61.79% for KTs. Here the change is -17.68 and -13.27 points. **88 and KTs 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 | 51.478 | 69.163 | -17.685 | 0.74430 | | 88, rainbow, ten or higher | 44.886 | 69.163 | -24.277 | 0.64899 | | 88, rainbow, nine or lower | 77.614 | 69.163 | +8.451 | 1.12219 | | 88, two-tone | 49.433 | 69.163 | -19.730 | 0.71473 | | 88, monotone | 50.789 | 69.163 | -18.374 | 0.73434 | | 88, paired | 57.011 | 69.163 | -12.152 | 0.82430 | | KTs, all flops | 48.522 | 61.789 | -13.267 | 0.78529 | | KTs, rainbow, ten or higher | 55.114 | 61.789 | -6.675 | 0.89197 | | KTs, rainbow, nine or lower | 22.386 | 61.789 | -39.403 | 0.36230 | | KTs, two-tone | 50.567 | 61.789 | -11.222 | 0.81838 | | KTs, monotone | 49.211 | 61.789 | -12.578 | 0.79644 | | KTs, paired | 42.989 | 61.789 | -18.800 | 0.69574 | ## Does a shared suit matter? When the hands share a suit, 88 holds 51.63%; when they do not, it holds 51.32%. 88 does better with a shared suit, by 0.31 points. **88 against KTs by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | 88 wins | Ties | KTs wins | 88 equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 12 | 50.00 | 51.400 | 0.465 | 48.135 | 51.633 | | No shared suit | 12 | 50.00 | 51.133 | 0.381 | 48.486 | 51.323 | ## How often this matchup comes up Out of 1,624,350 ways to deal two seats two cards each, 24 are 88 in one seat and KTs in the other (0.0015%); with the seats swapped too, 48 (0.0030%). ## A worked example Try it with money: two players each put in $100 and the whole board runs out every possible way. 88 averages $102.96 from the $200, up $2.96; KTs averages $97.04, down $2.96. Per 1,000 deals: 88 wins about 513, KTs wins about 483, and about 4 end in a split pot. ## The same matchup from the other side Read it from the other side: KTs against 88 is the same matchup with the numbers swapped, so KTs holds 48.52% and 88 holds 51.48%. That address sends you back to this page. ## Keep exploring The calculator link fills in 8s8h against KdTd, a deal where the two hands share no suit. Change any card to test your own hand. The neighboring matchups below swap one of the two hands for one of similar strength. - [Open 8s8h against KdTd in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=8s8h&p2=KdTd) - [88 combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/88.md) - [KTs combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/kts.md) - [88 vs KQo](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-kqo.md) - [88 vs A7s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-a7s.md) - [AKs vs KTs](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/aks-vs-kts.md) - [All hand matchups](https://georgelipoker.com/equity.md) ## How this was computed Method: exact enumeration. The 24 specific deals are grouped by suit pattern, each is run against all 1,712,304 boards, and both seven-card hands are scored. Equity adds half of every tie, and flop textures are tallied over the ten flops inside each board. Source: our own exact count from the GeorgeLiPoker poker math library. No outside data is used. ## Related - [88 vs KQo: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-kqo.md) - [88 vs A7s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-a7s.md) - [AKs vs KTs: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/aks-vs-kts.md)