--- title: "99 vs 86s: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/99-vs-86s.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/99-vs-86s" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "99 is a big favorite over 86s before the flop: 81.72% to 18.29% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/99-vs-76s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/99-vs-75s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-86s.md"] --- # 99 vs 86s: preflop equity 99 is a big favorite over 86s before the flop: 81.72% to 18.29% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. Before any board card is dealt, 99 holds 81.72% equity against 86s, which leaves 86s with 18.28%. ## 99 against 86s: the numbers **Exact preflop results for 99 against 86s, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 99 | 81.405 | 0.619 | 17.976 | 81.715 | | 86s | 17.976 | 0.619 | 81.405 | 18.285 | 99 and 86s are a pocket pair and a suited hand, in that order. Here a pair faces two cards that are both smaller, so the other hand needs to pair up and still be behind. This is one of the lopsided matchups: 86s wins only 17.97% of the boards outright. Of every 100 boards, about 0.62 are split pots, and the equity figures already include them. 99 ranks number 6 of 169 starting hands, and 86s ranks number 110, by equity against a random hand. **Boards behind the percentages: 41,095,296 counted in all** | Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 99 | 33,454,000 | 254,000 | 7,387,000 | | 86s | 7,387,000 | 254,000 | 33,454,000 | The total is exact: 24 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. **99 against 86s read as odds** | Hand | Equity as odds (to 1) | Wins one deal in | Loses one deal in | Pot odds needed to call (to 1) | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 99 | 4.469 | 1.228 | 5.563 | 0.224 | | 86s | 0.224 | 5.563 | 1.228 | 4.469 | 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 Across the five flop textures 99's equity moves by 14.00 points, from 71.98% on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower) to 85.98% on rainbow flops topped by a ten or better. 99 stays ahead on all five textures. **99 against 86s by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | 99 wins | Ties | 86s wins | 99 equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 25.844 | 85.807 | 0.341 | 13.852 | 85.978 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 5.065 | 71.725 | 0.505 | 27.770 | 71.977 | | Two-tone | 46.545 | 79.798 | 0.347 | 19.855 | 79.972 | | Monotone | 5.212 | 74.474 | 2.443 | 23.083 | 75.696 | | Paired | 17.334 | 84.069 | 1.250 | 14.681 | 84.694 | 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 Compared with a random opponent, this matchup shifts 99 from 72.06% by +9.66 points and 86s from 46.24% by -27.96 points. **99 and 86s 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 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 99, all flops | 81.715 | 72.057 | +9.658 | 1.13403 | | 99, rainbow, ten or higher | 85.978 | 72.057 | +13.921 | 1.19319 | | 99, rainbow, nine or lower | 71.977 | 72.057 | -0.080 | 0.99889 | | 99, two-tone | 79.972 | 72.057 | +7.915 | 1.10984 | | 99, monotone | 75.696 | 72.057 | +3.639 | 1.05050 | | 99, paired | 84.694 | 72.057 | +12.637 | 1.17538 | | 86s, all flops | 18.285 | 46.243 | -27.958 | 0.39541 | | 86s, rainbow, ten or higher | 14.022 | 46.243 | -32.221 | 0.30322 | | 86s, rainbow, nine or lower | 28.023 | 46.243 | -18.220 | 0.60599 | | 86s, two-tone | 20.028 | 46.243 | -26.215 | 0.43310 | | 86s, monotone | 24.304 | 46.243 | -21.939 | 0.52557 | | 86s, paired | 15.306 | 46.243 | -30.937 | 0.33099 | ## Does a shared suit matter? The suit split reads 82.29% for 99 with a shared suit and 81.14% without one. 99 does better with a shared suit, by 1.15 points. **99 against 86s by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | 99 wins | Ties | 86s wins | 99 equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 12 | 50.00 | 81.958 | 0.661 | 17.381 | 82.289 | | No shared suit | 12 | 50.00 | 80.852 | 0.577 | 18.571 | 81.140 | ## How often this matchup comes up This page stands for 24 specific-card matchups (0.0015% of 1,624,350 ordered deals), or 48 once you count the seats both ways (0.0030%). ## A worked example A $100 all-in from each player makes a $200 pot, and the exact equity says 99 gets $163.44 of it on average and 86s gets $36.56. Run 1,000 deals and the tally comes out near 814 for 99, 180 for 86s and 6 ties. ## The same matchup from the other side The mirror image, 86s against 99, is 18.28% to 81.72%, and its address redirects to this page. ## Keep exploring Open the calculator with 9s9h against 8d6d 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 9s9h against 8d6d in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=9s9h&p2=8d6d) - [99 combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/99.md) - [86s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/86s.md) - [99 vs 76s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/99-vs-76s.md) - [99 vs 75s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/99-vs-75s.md) - [88 vs 86s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-86s.md) - [All hand matchups](https://georgelipoker.com/equity.md) ## How this was computed We counted every case. Each suit pattern of the 24 specific 99 against 86s 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 - [99 vs 76s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/99-vs-76s.md) - [99 vs 75s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/99-vs-75s.md) - [88 vs 86s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-86s.md)