--- title: "98s vs 65s: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/98s-vs-65s.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/98s-vs-65s" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "98s is a big favorite over 65s before the flop: 63.21% to 36.79% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/98s-vs-54s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/98s-vs-64s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/22-vs-65s.md"] --- # 98s vs 65s: preflop equity 98s is a big favorite over 65s before the flop: 63.21% to 36.79% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. Counting every board, the equity split is 63.21% for 98s and 36.79% for 65s, so 98s leads by 26.42 points. ## 98s against 65s: the numbers **Exact preflop results for 98s against 65s, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 98s | 61.869 | 2.688 | 35.443 | 63.213 | | 65s | 35.443 | 2.688 | 61.869 | 36.787 | Both hands are suited hands: 98s and 65s. The two hands share no rank, which makes this a pure matchup of card strength, straight chances and flush chances. A 26.42 point lead is real, and 65s still takes about 354 of every 1,000 deals outright. Ties are 2.69% of the outcomes here; each tied board gives both hands half the pot. In the ranking of all 169 starting hands, 98s is number 83 and 65s is number 128. **Boards behind the percentages: 27,396,864 counted in all** | Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 98s | 16,950,000 | 736,000 | 9,710,000 | | 65s | 9,710,000 | 736,000 | 16,950,000 | 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 65s 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 | 1.718 | 1.616 | 2.821 | 0.582 | | 65s | 0.582 | 2.821 | 1.616 | 1.718 | 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 The flop changes the picture. 98s does best on rainbow flops topped by a ten or better, at 66.02%, and worst on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower), at 53.86%. 98s stays ahead on all five textures. **98s against 65s by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | 98s wins | Ties | 65s wins | 98s equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 25.844 | 65.016 | 1.999 | 32.985 | 66.016 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 5.065 | 53.640 | 0.443 | 45.917 | 53.861 | | Two-tone | 46.727 | 62.186 | 1.565 | 36.249 | 62.969 | | Monotone | 5.273 | 58.507 | 4.314 | 37.179 | 60.664 | | Paired | 17.091 | 59.716 | 6.968 | 33.316 | 63.200 | 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 Start from the random-hand figures, 50.80% for 98s and 43.13% for 65s. This opponent changes them by +12.41 and -6.34 points. **98s and 65s 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 | 63.213 | 50.801 | +12.412 | 1.24433 | | 98s, rainbow, ten or higher | 66.016 | 50.801 | +15.215 | 1.29950 | | 98s, rainbow, nine or lower | 53.861 | 50.801 | +3.060 | 1.06024 | | 98s, two-tone | 62.969 | 50.801 | +12.168 | 1.23952 | | 98s, monotone | 60.664 | 50.801 | +9.863 | 1.19415 | | 98s, paired | 63.200 | 50.801 | +12.399 | 1.24407 | | 65s, all flops | 36.787 | 43.133 | -6.346 | 0.85287 | | 65s, rainbow, ten or higher | 33.984 | 43.133 | -9.149 | 0.78789 | | 65s, rainbow, nine or lower | 46.139 | 43.133 | +3.006 | 1.06969 | | 65s, two-tone | 37.031 | 43.133 | -6.102 | 0.85853 | | 65s, monotone | 39.336 | 43.133 | -3.797 | 0.91197 | | 65s, paired | 36.800 | 43.133 | -6.333 | 0.85318 | ## Does a shared suit matter? Suit overlap shows up in the numbers. With a suit in common 98s has 65.62% equity, and with none in common it has 62.41%. 98s does better with a shared suit, by 3.21 points. **98s against 65s by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | 98s wins | Ties | 65s wins | 98s equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 4 | 25.00 | 64.167 | 2.897 | 32.936 | 65.616 | | No shared suit | 12 | 75.00 | 61.102 | 2.619 | 36.279 | 62.412 | ## How often this matchup comes up Out of 1,624,350 ways to deal two seats two cards each, 16 are 98s in one seat and 65s in the other (0.0010%); with the seats swapped too, 32 (0.0020%). ## A worked example Take a $200 pot built from $100 each. 98s' equity of 63.21% is worth $126.42, a $26.42 edge, and 65s' 36.79% is worth $73.58, which is $26.42 under its stake. Think in thousands: about 619 of 1,000 go to 98s, about 354 go to 65s, and about 27 are chopped. ## The same matchup from the other side Read it from the other side: 65s against 98s is the same matchup with the numbers swapped, so 65s holds 36.79% and 98s holds 63.21%. That address sends you back to this page. ## Keep exploring 9s8s against 6h5h 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 6h5h in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=9s8s&p2=6h5h) - [98s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/98s.md) - [65s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/65s.md) - [98s vs 54s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/98s-vs-54s.md) - [98s vs 64s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/98s-vs-64s.md) - [22 vs 65s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/22-vs-65s.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 16 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 - [98s vs 54s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/98s-vs-54s.md) - [98s vs 64s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/98s-vs-64s.md) - [22 vs 65s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/22-vs-65s.md)