--- title: "88 vs QTs: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-qts.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-qts" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "88 vs QTs is close to a coin flip before the flop: 51.02% to 48.98% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-a4s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-a3s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/aks-vs-qts.md"] --- # 88 vs QTs: preflop equity 88 vs QTs is close to a coin flip before the flop: 51.02% to 48.98% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. The exact count puts 88 at 51.02% and QTs at 48.98% when the two hands see all five board cards. ## 88 against QTs: the numbers **Exact preflop results for 88 against QTs, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 88 | 50.806 | 0.435 | 48.759 | 51.024 | | QTs | 48.759 | 0.435 | 50.806 | 48.976 | The matchup pits a pocket pair against 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. With only 2.04 points between them, the board decides this matchup far more than the cards in hand. Ties are part of the picture: 0.44% of boards end in a split pot, and each side counts that as half a win. The hand ranking puts 88 at 7 and QTs at 34 out of 169 starting hands. **Boards behind the percentages: 41,095,296 counted in all** | Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 88 | 20,879,000 | 179,000 | 20,038,000 | | QTs | 20,038,000 | 179,000 | 20,879,000 | The board total is exact, 24 deals at 1,712,304 boards each. Won, tied and lost counts are rounded to the nearest thousand from the five-decimal percentages. **88 against QTs 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 | 1.042 | 1.968 | 2.051 | 0.960 | | QTs | 0.960 | 2.051 | 1.968 | 1.042 | 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 By flop texture, 88's equity runs from 44.36% on rainbow flops topped by a ten or better up to 76.71% on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower). On rainbow flops topped by a ten or better and two-tone flops the numbers flip and QTs is the one ahead. **88 against QTs by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | 88 wins | Ties | QTs wins | 88 equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 24.595 | 44.252 | 0.214 | 55.534 | 44.359 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 6.314 | 76.362 | 0.696 | 22.942 | 76.710 | | Two-tone | 46.545 | 48.740 | 0.292 | 50.968 | 48.886 | | Monotone | 5.212 | 49.144 | 2.397 | 48.459 | 50.343 | | Paired | 17.334 | 56.845 | 0.449 | 42.706 | 57.069 | 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 QTs 59.47%. Against each other the change is -18.14 points for 88 and -10.49 for QTs. **88 and QTs 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 | 51.024 | 69.163 | -18.139 | 0.73774 | | 88, rainbow, ten or higher | 44.359 | 69.163 | -24.804 | 0.64137 | | 88, rainbow, nine or lower | 76.710 | 69.163 | +7.547 | 1.10912 | | 88, two-tone | 48.886 | 69.163 | -20.277 | 0.70682 | | 88, monotone | 50.343 | 69.163 | -18.820 | 0.72789 | | 88, paired | 57.069 | 69.163 | -12.094 | 0.82514 | | QTs, all flops | 48.976 | 59.468 | -10.492 | 0.82357 | | QTs, rainbow, ten or higher | 55.641 | 59.468 | -3.827 | 0.93565 | | QTs, rainbow, nine or lower | 23.290 | 59.468 | -36.178 | 0.39164 | | QTs, two-tone | 51.114 | 59.468 | -8.354 | 0.85952 | | QTs, monotone | 49.657 | 59.468 | -9.811 | 0.83502 | | QTs, paired | 42.931 | 59.468 | -16.537 | 0.72192 | ## Does a shared suit matter? Two kinds of deal exist here. In 12 of them the hands share a suit and 88 holds 51.16%. In 12 they do not, and it holds 50.89%. 88 does better with a shared suit, by 0.27 points. **88 against QTs by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | 88 wins | Ties | QTs wins | 88 equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 12 | 50.00 | 50.917 | 0.477 | 48.606 | 51.156 | | No shared suit | 12 | 50.00 | 50.695 | 0.393 | 48.912 | 50.892 | ## How often this matchup comes up How often does it happen? 24 of the 1,624,350 ordered deals (0.0015%) are 88 against QTs, and 48 (0.0030%) if either hand may sit in either seat. ## A worked example To see what the equity is worth, imagine $100 each in a $200 pot. 88 is worth $102.04 on average (+$2.04); QTs is worth $97.96 (-$2.04). Per 1,000 deals: 88 wins about 508, QTs wins about 488, and about 4 end in a split pot. ## The same matchup from the other side The mirror image, QTs against 88, is 48.98% to 51.02%, and its address redirects to this page. ## Keep exploring The calculator link fills in 8s8h against QdTd, 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 QdTd in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=8s8h&p2=QdTd) - [88 combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/88.md) - [QTs combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/qts.md) - [88 vs A4s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-a4s.md) - [88 vs A3s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-a3s.md) - [AKs vs QTs](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/aks-vs-qts.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 A4s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-a4s.md) - [88 vs A3s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-a3s.md) - [AKs vs QTs: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/aks-vs-qts.md)