--- title: "98s vs 54s: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/98s-vs-54s.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/98s-vs-54s" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "98s is a big favorite over 54s before the flop: 63.12% to 36.89% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/98s-vs-64s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/98s-vs-53s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/22-vs-54s.md"] --- # 98s vs 54s: preflop equity 98s is a big favorite over 54s before the flop: 63.12% to 36.89% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. In equity, 98s against 54s stands at 63.12% to 36.88%, a gap of 26.24 points. ## 98s against 54s: the numbers **Exact preflop results for 98s against 54s, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 98s | 61.755 | 2.719 | 35.526 | 63.115 | | 54s | 35.526 | 2.719 | 61.755 | 36.885 | 98s and 54s are both suited hands. Neither hand shares a rank with the other, so this is a contest of high cards, connection and suits. That is a modest edge, the kind that shows up over many hands and is easy to miss in one. Ties are 2.72% of the outcomes here; each tied board gives both hands half the pot. The hand ranking puts 98s at 83 and 54s at 136 out of 169 starting hands. **Boards behind the percentages: 27,396,864 counted in all** | Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 98s | 16,919,000 | 745,000 | 9,733,000 | | 54s | 9,733,000 | 745,000 | 16,919,000 | The board total is exact, 16 deals at 1,712,304 boards each. Won, tied and lost counts are rounded to the nearest thousand from the five-decimal percentages. **98s against 54s 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 | 1.711 | 1.619 | 2.815 | 0.584 | | 54s | 0.584 | 2.815 | 1.619 | 1.711 | The last column is the break-even price: the pot odds a call needs to offer, as a ratio of pot to call. ## Who is ahead on which flops By flop texture, 98s' equity runs from 57.50% on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower) up to 65.18% on rainbow flops topped by a ten or better. 98s stays ahead on all five textures. **98s against 54s by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | 98s wins | Ties | 54s wins | 98s equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 25.844 | 64.167 | 2.023 | 33.810 | 65.178 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 5.065 | 57.203 | 0.599 | 42.198 | 57.502 | | Two-tone | 46.727 | 62.096 | 1.606 | 36.298 | 62.899 | | Monotone | 5.273 | 58.487 | 4.400 | 37.113 | 60.687 | | Paired | 17.091 | 59.535 | 6.923 | 33.542 | 62.996 | Flop types: rainbow means three different suits, two-tone means one suit twice, monotone means one suit three times, paired means a repeated rank. ## Compared with a random hand Relative to a random opponent, 98s changes by +12.32 points (baseline 50.80%) and 54s by -4.57 points (baseline 41.45%). **98s and 54s 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 | 63.115 | 50.801 | +12.314 | 1.24240 | | 98s, rainbow, ten or higher | 65.178 | 50.801 | +14.377 | 1.28301 | | 98s, rainbow, nine or lower | 57.502 | 50.801 | +6.701 | 1.13191 | | 98s, two-tone | 62.899 | 50.801 | +12.098 | 1.23814 | | 98s, monotone | 60.687 | 50.801 | +9.886 | 1.19460 | | 98s, paired | 62.996 | 50.801 | +12.195 | 1.24005 | | 54s, all flops | 36.885 | 41.453 | -4.568 | 0.88980 | | 54s, rainbow, ten or higher | 34.822 | 41.453 | -6.631 | 0.84004 | | 54s, rainbow, nine or lower | 42.498 | 41.453 | +1.045 | 1.02521 | | 54s, two-tone | 37.101 | 41.453 | -4.352 | 0.89501 | | 54s, monotone | 39.313 | 41.453 | -2.140 | 0.94838 | | 54s, paired | 37.004 | 41.453 | -4.449 | 0.89267 | ## Does a shared suit matter? Looking only at deals where the hands share a suit, 98s has 65.47%; looking only at deals where they do not, 62.33%. 98s does better with a shared suit, by 3.14 points. **98s against 54s by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | 98s wins | Ties | 54s wins | 98s equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 4 | 25.00 | 64.007 | 2.930 | 33.063 | 65.472 | | No shared suit | 12 | 75.00 | 61.005 | 2.648 | 36.347 | 62.329 | ## How often this matchup comes up Exactly 16 specific deals fit this matchup in one seat order, which is 0.0010% of 1,624,350; both orders together give 32, or 0.0020%. ## A worked example Try it with money: two players each put in $100 and the whole board runs out every possible way. 98s averages $126.24 from the $200, up $26.24; 54s averages $73.76, down $26.24. Run 1,000 deals and the tally comes out near 618 for 98s, 355 for 54s and 27 ties. ## The same matchup from the other side Read it from the other side: 54s against 98s is the same matchup with the numbers swapped, so 54s holds 36.88% and 98s holds 63.12%. That address sends you back to this page. ## Keep exploring Open the calculator with 9s8s against 5h4h already entered, a deal with no shared suit, and change any card to try your own hand. The matchups after it each swap one hand for a nearby one in the ranking. - [Open 9s8s against 5h4h in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=9s8s&p2=5h4h) - [98s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/98s.md) - [54s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/54s.md) - [98s vs 64s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/98s-vs-64s.md) - [98s vs 53s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/98s-vs-53s.md) - [22 vs 54s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/22-vs-54s.md) - [All hand matchups](https://georgelipoker.com/equity.md) ## How this was computed We counted every case. Each suit pattern of the 16 specific 98s against 54s deals meets all 1,712,304 boards, and the better five-card hand wins; a split pot is half a win each. The flop table reads each board under all ten of its three-card flops. Source: our own exact count from the GeorgeLiPoker poker math library. No outside data is used. ## Related - [98s vs 64s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/98s-vs-64s.md) - [98s vs 53s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/98s-vs-53s.md) - [22 vs 54s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/22-vs-54s.md)