--- title: "97s vs 87s: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/97s-vs-87s.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/97s-vs-87s" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "97s is a big favorite over 87s before the flop: 67.55% to 32.45% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/97s-vs-86s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/97s-vs-76s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/22-vs-87s.md"] --- # 97s vs 87s: preflop equity 97s is a big favorite over 87s before the flop: 67.55% to 32.45% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. Averaged over every possible board, 97s is ahead of 87s by 35.10 points of equity, 67.55% to 32.45%. ## 97s against 87s: the numbers **Exact preflop results for 97s against 87s, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 97s | 63.040 | 9.023 | 27.937 | 67.552 | | 87s | 27.937 | 9.023 | 63.040 | 32.448 | Both hands are suited hands: 97s and 87s. Because the hands share one rank, the one with the higher kicker is ahead when that rank pairs and the other hand is mostly drawing. 97s is the clear favorite, though 87s gets there on roughly one board in 3. Ties are part of the picture: 9.02% of boards end in a split pot, and each side counts that as half a win. For context, 97s sits at number 94 of 169 starting hands and 87s at number 100 when each is run against a random hand. **Boards behind the percentages: 20,547,648 counted in all** | Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 97s | 12,953,000 | 1,854,000 | 5,740,000 | | 87s | 5,740,000 | 1,854,000 | 12,953,000 | 12 specific deals times 1,712,304 boards gives the exact total. The won, tied and lost counts are approximations from the five-decimal percentages, rounded to the nearest thousand. **97s against 87s read as odds** | Hand | Equity as odds (to 1) | Wins one deal in | Loses one deal in | Pot odds needed to call (to 1) | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 97s | 2.082 | 1.586 | 3.579 | 0.480 | | 87s | 0.480 | 3.579 | 1.586 | 2.082 | In the last column, a pot-to-call ratio at or above the figure makes a call break even or better at this equity. ## Who is ahead on which flops By flop texture, 97s' equity runs from 61.60% on monotone flops up to 70.55% on rainbow flops topped by a ten or better. 97s stays ahead on all five textures. **97s against 87s by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | 97s wins | Ties | 87s wins | 97s equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 25.844 | 66.180 | 8.732 | 25.088 | 70.546 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 5.065 | 61.880 | 3.983 | 34.137 | 63.872 | | Two-tone | 46.543 | 63.169 | 7.292 | 29.539 | 66.815 | | Monotone | 5.215 | 57.215 | 8.760 | 34.025 | 61.595 | | Paired | 17.333 | 60.105 | 15.658 | 24.237 | 67.934 | Read the flop types this way: rainbow has three suits, two-tone has two cards of one suit, monotone has three, and paired repeats a rank. ## Compared with a random hand Compared with a random opponent, this matchup shifts 97s from 49.12% by +18.43 points and 87s from 47.94% by -15.49 points. **97s and 87s 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 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 97s, all flops | 67.552 | 49.118 | +18.434 | 1.37530 | | 97s, rainbow, ten or higher | 70.546 | 49.118 | +21.428 | 1.43626 | | 97s, rainbow, nine or lower | 63.872 | 49.118 | +14.754 | 1.30038 | | 97s, two-tone | 66.815 | 49.118 | +17.697 | 1.36030 | | 97s, monotone | 61.595 | 49.118 | +12.477 | 1.25402 | | 97s, paired | 67.934 | 49.118 | +18.816 | 1.38308 | | 87s, all flops | 32.448 | 47.936 | -15.488 | 0.67690 | | 87s, rainbow, ten or higher | 29.454 | 47.936 | -18.482 | 0.61444 | | 87s, rainbow, nine or lower | 36.128 | 47.936 | -11.808 | 0.75367 | | 87s, two-tone | 33.185 | 47.936 | -14.751 | 0.69228 | | 87s, monotone | 38.405 | 47.936 | -9.531 | 0.80117 | | 87s, paired | 32.066 | 47.936 | -15.870 | 0.66893 | ## Does a shared suit matter? A shared suit is impossible for this matchup, so 97s' 67.55% is the answer for every suit pattern. **97s against 87s by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | 97s wins | Ties | 87s wins | 97s equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 0 | 0.00 | not possible | not possible | not possible | not possible | | No shared suit | 12 | 100.00 | 63.040 | 9.023 | 27.937 | 67.552 | ## How often this matchup comes up Exactly 12 specific deals fit this matchup in one seat order, which is 0.0007% of 1,624,350; both orders together give 24, or 0.0015%. ## A worked example Take a $200 pot built from $100 each. 97s' equity of 67.55% is worth $135.10, a $35.10 edge, and 87s' 32.45% is worth $64.90, which is $35.10 under its stake. Out of 1,000 deals you should see around 631 outright wins for 97s, 279 for 87s, and 90 split pots. ## The same matchup from the other side Swap the hands and you get 87s with 32.45% against 97s with 67.55%. We keep one page per matchup, with the better-ranked hand first. ## Keep exploring 9s7s against 8h7h 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 9s7s against 8h7h in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=9s7s&p2=8h7h) - [97s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/97s.md) - [87s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/87s.md) - [97s vs 86s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/97s-vs-86s.md) - [97s vs 76s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/97s-vs-76s.md) - [22 vs 87s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/22-vs-87s.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 12 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 - [97s vs 86s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/97s-vs-86s.md) - [97s vs 76s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/97s-vs-76s.md) - [22 vs 87s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/22-vs-87s.md)