98s
65.09%
Wins 63.73%, ties 2.73%
43s
34.91%
Wins 33.54%, ties 2.73%
98s against 43s: the numbers
| Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 98s | 63.728 | 2.731 | 33.541 | 65.094 |
| 43s | 33.541 | 2.731 | 63.728 | 34.906 |
This is a contest between two suited hands, 98s and 43s. With no overlap in ranks, every card that pairs one hand is a card that does not pair the other.
A lead of 30.18 points is large but not decisive: 43s still takes about 336 of every 1,000 deals. The tie share is 2.73%: on those boards the pot is chopped and neither hand wins outright.
98s ranks number 83 of 169 starting hands, and 43s ranks number 150, by equity against a random hand.
| Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about |
|---|---|---|---|
| 98s | 17,459,000 | 748,000 | 9,189,000 |
| 43s | 9,189,000 | 748,000 | 17,459,000 |
The total is exact: 16 specific deals times 1,712,304 boards. The three counts are approximate, worked out from the percentages to five decimals and rounded to the nearest thousand.
| Hand | Equity as odds (to 1) | Wins one deal in | Loses one deal in | Pot odds needed to call (to 1) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 98s | 1.865 | 1.569 | 2.981 | 0.536 |
| 43s | 0.536 | 2.981 | 1.569 | 1.865 |
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
If you know the kind of flop that came, the numbers shift: 98s holds 66.65% on rainbow flops topped by a ten or better and 62.24% on monotone flops. 98s stays ahead on all five textures.
| Flop | Share of flops | 98s wins | Ties | 43s wins | 98s equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rainbow, ten or higher | 25.844 | 65.636 | 2.023 | 32.341 | 66.648 |
| Rainbow, nine or lower | 5.065 | 63.665 | 0.652 | 35.683 | 63.991 |
| Two-tone | 46.727 | 64.112 | 1.613 | 34.275 | 64.918 |
| Monotone | 5.273 | 59.986 | 4.503 | 35.511 | 62.237 |
| Paired | 17.091 | 60.964 | 6.932 | 32.104 | 64.430 |
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 98s 50.80% and 43s 38.64%. Against each other the change is +14.29 points for 98s and -3.73 for 43s.
| Case | Equity here | Against a random hand | Change in points | Times the random-hand equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 98s, all flops | 65.094 | 50.801 | +14.293 | 1.28135 |
| 98s, rainbow, ten or higher | 66.648 | 50.801 | +15.847 | 1.31194 |
| 98s, rainbow, nine or lower | 63.991 | 50.801 | +13.190 | 1.25964 |
| 98s, two-tone | 64.918 | 50.801 | +14.117 | 1.27789 |
| 98s, monotone | 62.237 | 50.801 | +11.436 | 1.22511 |
| 98s, paired | 64.430 | 50.801 | +13.629 | 1.26828 |
| 43s, all flops | 34.906 | 38.642 | -3.736 | 0.90332 |
| 43s, rainbow, ten or higher | 33.352 | 38.642 | -5.290 | 0.86310 |
| 43s, rainbow, nine or lower | 36.009 | 38.642 | -2.633 | 0.93186 |
| 43s, two-tone | 35.082 | 38.642 | -3.560 | 0.90787 |
| 43s, monotone | 37.763 | 38.642 | -0.879 | 0.97725 |
| 43s, paired | 35.570 | 38.642 | -3.072 | 0.92050 |
Does a shared suit matter?
Two kinds of deal exist here. In 4 of them the hands share a suit and 98s holds 67.67%. In 12 they do not, and it holds 64.24%. 98s does better with a shared suit, by 3.43 points.
| Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | 98s wins | Ties | 43s wins | 98s equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Share a suit | 4 | 25.00 | 66.199 | 2.939 | 30.862 | 67.669 |
| No shared suit | 12 | 75.00 | 62.904 | 2.662 | 34.434 | 64.235 |
How often this matchup comes up
How often does it happen? 16 of the 1,624,350 ordered deals (0.0010%) are 98s against 43s, and 32 (0.0020%) if either hand may sit in either seat.
A worked example
Take a $200 pot built from $100 each. 98s' equity of 65.09% is worth $130.18, a $30.18 edge, and 43s' 34.91% is worth $69.82, which is $30.18 under its stake.
Over a long run, 1,000 deals split into about 637 for 98s, 336 for 43s and 27 tied.
The same matchup from the other side
43s versus 98s is this same page seen from the other hand: 34.91% for 43s, 65.09% for 98s.
Keep exploring
Try 9s8s against 4h3h 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.
How this was computed
All 1,712,304 five-card boards are dealt for every suit pattern among the 16 specific deals of 98s against 43s, and both hands are scored on each. That is a full count, so the percentages are exact. Ties are half a win each, and each board appears once per flop it contains.
Source: our own exact count from the GeorgeLiPoker poker math library. No outside data is used.
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