--- title: "98s vs 43s: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/98s-vs-43s.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/98s-vs-43s" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "98s is a big favorite over 43s before the flop: 65.09% to 34.91% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/22-vs-43s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/98s-vs-53s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/t9o-vs-43s.md"] --- # 98s vs 43s: preflop equity 98s is a big favorite over 43s before the flop: 65.09% to 34.91% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. Dealt all in against each other, 98s takes 65.09% of the pot on average and 43s takes the other 34.91%. ## 98s against 43s: the numbers **Exact preflop results for 98s against 43s, in percent** | 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. **Boards behind the percentages: 27,396,864 counted in all** | 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. **98s against 43s read as odds** | 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. **98s against 43s by flop texture, in percent** | 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. **98s and 43s 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 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 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. **98s against 43s by suit overlap, in percent** | 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. - [Open 9s8s against 4h3h in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=9s8s&p2=4h3h) - [98s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/98s.md) - [43s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/43s.md) - [22 vs 43s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/22-vs-43s.md) - [98s vs 53s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/98s-vs-53s.md) - [T9o vs 43s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/t9o-vs-43s.md) - [All hand matchups](https://georgelipoker.com/equity.md) ## 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. ## Related - [22 vs 43s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/22-vs-43s.md) - [98s vs 53s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/98s-vs-53s.md) - [T9o vs 43s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/t9o-vs-43s.md)