--- title: "98s vs 64s: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/98s-vs-64s.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/98s-vs-64s" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "98s is a big favorite over 64s before the flop: 64.46% to 35.54% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/98s-vs-53s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/98s-vs-43s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/22-vs-64s.md"] --- # 98s vs 64s: preflop equity 98s is a big favorite over 64s before the flop: 64.46% to 35.54% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. Over all 1,712,304 boards that can follow this deal, 98s finishes with 64.46% of the pot and 64s with 35.54%. ## 98s against 64s: the numbers **Exact preflop results for 98s against 64s, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 98s | 63.112 | 2.695 | 34.193 | 64.460 | | 64s | 34.193 | 2.695 | 63.112 | 35.540 | Both hands are suited hands: 98s and 64s. The two hands share no rank, which makes this a pure matchup of card strength, straight chances and flush chances. That is a modest edge, the kind that shows up over many hands and is easy to miss in one. Ties are part of the picture: 2.70% of boards end in a split pot, and each side counts that as half a win. By strength against a random hand, 98s holds place 83 of 169 and 64s holds place 138. **Boards behind the percentages: 27,396,864 counted in all** | Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 98s | 17,291,000 | 738,000 | 9,368,000 | | 64s | 9,368,000 | 738,000 | 17,291,000 | 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 64s 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 | 1.814 | 1.584 | 2.925 | 0.551 | | 64s | 0.551 | 2.925 | 1.584 | 1.814 | 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 Rainbow flops topped by a ten or better are the best for 98s (66.95%); low rainbow flops (nine high or lower) are the worst (57.88%). 98s stays ahead on all five textures. **98s against 64s by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | 98s wins | Ties | 64s wins | 98s equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 25.844 | 65.948 | 1.999 | 32.053 | 66.948 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 5.065 | 57.630 | 0.489 | 41.881 | 57.875 | | Two-tone | 46.727 | 63.476 | 1.571 | 34.953 | 64.262 | | Monotone | 5.273 | 59.525 | 4.322 | 36.153 | 61.686 | | Paired | 17.091 | 60.560 | 6.972 | 32.468 | 64.046 | 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 How much does the opponent matter? Compared with its random-hand 50.80%, 98s changes by +13.66 points, and 64s, from 41.33%, by -5.79. **98s and 64s 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 | 64.460 | 50.801 | +13.659 | 1.26887 | | 98s, rainbow, ten or higher | 66.948 | 50.801 | +16.147 | 1.31785 | | 98s, rainbow, nine or lower | 57.875 | 50.801 | +7.074 | 1.13925 | | 98s, two-tone | 64.262 | 50.801 | +13.461 | 1.26498 | | 98s, monotone | 61.686 | 50.801 | +10.885 | 1.21427 | | 98s, paired | 64.046 | 50.801 | +13.245 | 1.26072 | | 64s, all flops | 35.540 | 41.333 | -5.793 | 0.85985 | | 64s, rainbow, ten or higher | 33.052 | 41.333 | -8.281 | 0.79965 | | 64s, rainbow, nine or lower | 42.125 | 41.333 | +0.792 | 1.01916 | | 64s, two-tone | 35.738 | 41.333 | -5.595 | 0.86464 | | 64s, monotone | 38.314 | 41.333 | -3.019 | 0.92696 | | 64s, paired | 35.954 | 41.333 | -5.379 | 0.86986 | ## Does a shared suit matter? Split by suits, the deals give 98s 66.98% when the hands overlap in a suit and 63.62% when they do not. 98s does better with a shared suit, by 3.36 points. **98s against 64s by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | 98s wins | Ties | 64s wins | 98s equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 4 | 25.00 | 65.526 | 2.904 | 31.570 | 66.978 | | No shared suit | 12 | 75.00 | 62.308 | 2.625 | 35.067 | 63.620 | ## How often this matchup comes up 98s against 64s is made up of 16 specific-card matchups in one seat order, 0.0010% of the 1,624,350 ordered deals, and 32 counting both seat orders, 0.0020%. ## A worked example Say each player puts $100 in before the flop, making a $200 pot. On average 98s takes back $128.92 of it, which is $28.92 more than it put in, and 64s takes back $71.08, $28.92 less than it put in. Out of 1,000 deals you should see around 631 outright wins for 98s, 342 for 64s, and 27 split pots. ## The same matchup from the other side 64s against 98s adds nothing new: it is 35.54% for 64s and 64.46% for 98s, the same figures reversed. ## Keep exploring 9s8s against 6h4h 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 9s8s against 6h4h in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=9s8s&p2=6h4h) - [98s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/98s.md) - [64s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/64s.md) - [98s vs 53s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/98s-vs-53s.md) - [98s vs 43s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/98s-vs-43s.md) - [22 vs 64s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/22-vs-64s.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 16 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 - [98s vs 53s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/98s-vs-53s.md) - [98s vs 43s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/98s-vs-43s.md) - [22 vs 64s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/22-vs-64s.md)