--- title: "98s vs 97s: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/98s-vs-97s.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/98s-vs-97s" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "98s is a big favorite over 97s before the flop: 64.65% to 35.35% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/98s-vs-87s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/98s-vs-86s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/22-vs-97s.md"] --- # 98s vs 97s: preflop equity 98s is a big favorite over 97s before the flop: 64.65% to 35.35% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. Counting every board, the equity split is 64.65% for 98s and 35.35% for 97s, so 98s leads by 29.30 points. ## 98s against 97s: the numbers **Exact preflop results for 98s against 97s, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 98s | 55.206 | 18.897 | 25.897 | 64.654 | | 97s | 25.897 | 18.897 | 55.206 | 35.346 | The matchup is suited hands on both sides, 98s against 97s. The two hands share a rank, and the one with the better other card dominates: it wins most kicker battles when that shared rank hits. The lead is steady rather than large, and the flop still has plenty of say in who wins. Of every 100 boards, about 18.90 are split pots, and the equity figures already include them. Place 83 of 169 belongs to 98s and place 94 belongs to 97s in the ranking against a random hand. **Boards behind the percentages: 20,547,648 counted in all** | Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 98s | 11,344,000 | 3,883,000 | 5,321,000 | | 97s | 5,321,000 | 3,883,000 | 11,344,000 | The total is exact: 12 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 97s 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 | 1.829 | 1.811 | 3.861 | 0.547 | | 97s | 0.547 | 3.861 | 1.811 | 1.829 | 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 The flop changes the picture. 98s does best on rainbow flops topped by a ten or better, at 67.51%, and worst on paired flops, at 60.00%. 98s stays ahead on all five textures. **98s against 97s by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | 98s wins | Ties | 97s wins | 98s equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 25.844 | 57.968 | 19.091 | 22.941 | 67.514 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 5.065 | 64.215 | 4.890 | 30.895 | 66.660 | | Two-tone | 46.543 | 57.576 | 14.918 | 27.506 | 65.035 | | Monotone | 5.215 | 53.786 | 13.667 | 32.547 | 60.619 | | Paired | 17.333 | 42.516 | 34.958 | 22.526 | 59.995 | 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 Start from the random-hand figures, 50.80% for 98s and 49.12% for 97s. This opponent changes them by +13.85 and -13.77 points. **98s and 97s 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 | 64.654 | 50.801 | +13.853 | 1.27269 | | 98s, rainbow, ten or higher | 67.514 | 50.801 | +16.713 | 1.32899 | | 98s, rainbow, nine or lower | 66.660 | 50.801 | +15.859 | 1.31218 | | 98s, two-tone | 65.035 | 50.801 | +14.234 | 1.28019 | | 98s, monotone | 60.619 | 50.801 | +9.818 | 1.19326 | | 98s, paired | 59.995 | 50.801 | +9.194 | 1.18098 | | 97s, all flops | 35.346 | 49.118 | -13.772 | 0.71961 | | 97s, rainbow, ten or higher | 32.486 | 49.118 | -16.632 | 0.66139 | | 97s, rainbow, nine or lower | 33.340 | 49.118 | -15.778 | 0.67877 | | 97s, two-tone | 34.965 | 49.118 | -14.153 | 0.71186 | | 97s, monotone | 39.381 | 49.118 | -9.737 | 0.80176 | | 97s, paired | 40.005 | 49.118 | -9.113 | 0.81447 | ## Does a shared suit matter? There is no shared-suit case for this pair, since the cards they would need are already in the other hand. Every deal is a no-shared-suit deal. **98s against 97s by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | 98s wins | Ties | 97s wins | 98s equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 0 | 0.00 | not possible | not possible | not possible | not possible | | No shared suit | 12 | 100.00 | 55.206 | 18.897 | 25.897 | 64.654 | ## How often this matchup comes up Counting specific cards, 98s against 97s appears in 12 of the 1,624,350 ordered heads-up deals (0.0007%), and in 24 when the seats are swapped too (0.0015%). ## A worked example With $100 from each side, the $200 pot is split on average as $129.30 for 98s and $70.70 for 97s; the first side gains $29.30 per all-in and the second gives up $29.30. Run 1,000 deals and the tally comes out near 552 for 98s, 259 for 97s and 189 ties. ## The same matchup from the other side 97s versus 98s is this same page seen from the other hand: 35.35% for 97s, 64.65% for 98s. ## Keep exploring Open the calculator with 9s8s against 9h7h 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 9h7h in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=9s8s&p2=9h7h) - [98s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/98s.md) - [97s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/97s.md) - [98s vs 87s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/98s-vs-87s.md) - [98s vs 86s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/98s-vs-86s.md) - [22 vs 97s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/22-vs-97s.md) - [All hand matchups](https://georgelipoker.com/equity.md) ## How this was computed This is an exact count with no sampling. For the 12 ways to deal one 98s and one 97s without reusing a card, grouped by suit pattern, every one of the 1,712,304 possible boards is dealt and both seven-card hands are compared. A tie counts as half a win in the equity column, and each board is counted once under each of its ten three-card flops. Source: our own exact count from the GeorgeLiPoker poker math library. No outside data is used. ## Related - [98s vs 87s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/98s-vs-87s.md) - [98s vs 86s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/98s-vs-86s.md) - [22 vs 97s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/22-vs-97s.md)