--- title: "99 vs 98s: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/99-vs-98s.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/99-vs-98s" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "99 is a big favorite over 98s before the flop: 82.17% to 17.83% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/99-vs-22.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/99-vs-97s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-98s.md"] --- # 99 vs 98s: preflop equity 99 is a big favorite over 98s before the flop: 82.17% to 17.83% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. The exact count puts 99 at 82.17% and 98s at 17.83% when the two hands see all five board cards. ## 99 against 98s: the numbers **Exact preflop results for 99 against 98s, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 99 | 80.677 | 2.985 | 16.338 | 82.170 | | 98s | 16.338 | 2.985 | 80.677 | 17.830 | The first hand is a pocket pair; the second is a suited hand. One hand holds a card of the same rank as the pair, which removes a card the pair needs and makes the pair a bigger favorite. This is one of the lopsided matchups: 98s wins only 16.33% of the boards outright. Split pots make up 2.99% of the boards, and both equity figures count them as half a win each. For context, 99 sits at number 6 of 169 starting hands and 98s at number 83 when each is run against a random hand. **Boards behind the percentages: 20,547,648 counted in all** | Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 99 | 16,577,000 | 613,000 | 3,357,000 | | 98s | 3,357,000 | 613,000 | 16,577,000 | The board total is exact, 12 deals at 1,712,304 boards each. Won, tied and lost counts are rounded to the nearest thousand from the five-decimal percentages. **99 against 98s 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 | 4.609 | 1.240 | 6.121 | 0.217 | | 98s | 0.217 | 6.121 | 1.240 | 4.609 | 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 99 prefers rainbow flops topped by a ten or better, where it holds 85.31%, and likes monotone flops least, where it holds 73.84%. 99 stays ahead on all five textures. **99 against 98s by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | 99 wins | Ties | 98s wins | 99 equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 25.786 | 83.900 | 2.818 | 13.282 | 85.309 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 4.995 | 81.988 | 3.404 | 14.608 | 83.690 | | Two-tone | 46.236 | 79.285 | 2.690 | 18.025 | 80.630 | | Monotone | 5.152 | 72.167 | 3.341 | 24.492 | 73.838 | | Paired | 17.831 | 81.718 | 3.773 | 14.509 | 83.605 | A rainbow flop shows three suits, a two-tone flop repeats one suit, a monotone flop is a single suit, and a paired flop repeats a rank. ## Compared with a random hand Relative to a random opponent, 99 changes by +10.11 points (baseline 72.06%) and 98s by -32.97 points (baseline 50.80%). **99 and 98s 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 | 82.170 | 72.057 | +10.113 | 1.14035 | | 99, rainbow, ten or higher | 85.309 | 72.057 | +13.252 | 1.18391 | | 99, rainbow, nine or lower | 83.690 | 72.057 | +11.633 | 1.16144 | | 99, two-tone | 80.630 | 72.057 | +8.573 | 1.11898 | | 99, monotone | 73.838 | 72.057 | +1.781 | 1.02472 | | 99, paired | 83.605 | 72.057 | +11.548 | 1.16026 | | 98s, all flops | 17.830 | 50.801 | -32.971 | 0.35098 | | 98s, rainbow, ten or higher | 14.691 | 50.801 | -36.110 | 0.28919 | | 98s, rainbow, nine or lower | 16.310 | 50.801 | -34.491 | 0.32106 | | 98s, two-tone | 19.370 | 50.801 | -31.431 | 0.38129 | | 98s, monotone | 26.162 | 50.801 | -24.639 | 0.51499 | | 98s, paired | 16.395 | 50.801 | -34.406 | 0.32273 | ## Does a shared suit matter? A shared suit is impossible for this matchup, so 99's 82.17% is the answer for every suit pattern. **99 against 98s by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | 99 wins | Ties | 98s wins | 99 equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 0 | 0.00 | not possible | not possible | not possible | not possible | | No shared suit | 12 | 100.00 | 80.677 | 2.985 | 16.338 | 82.170 | ## How often this matchup comes up Exactly 12 specific deals fit this matchup in one seat order, which is 0.0007% of 1,624,350; both orders together give 24, or 0.0015%. ## A worked example With $100 from each side, the $200 pot is split on average as $164.34 for 99 and $35.66 for 98s; the first side gains $64.34 per all-in and the second gives up $64.34. Scaled to 1,000 deals, that is roughly 807 wins for 99, 163 for 98s and 30 chopped pots. ## The same matchup from the other side The reversed view, 98s against 99, shows 17.83% for 98s and 82.17% for 99. It is the same count, so it redirects here. ## Keep exploring 9s9h against 9d8d 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 9s9h against 9d8d in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=9s9h&p2=9d8d) - [99 combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/99.md) - [98s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/98s.md) - [99 vs 22](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/99-vs-22.md) - [99 vs 97s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/99-vs-97s.md) - [88 vs 98s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-98s.md) - [All hand matchups](https://georgelipoker.com/equity.md) ## How this was computed Each figure is a complete count over boards. Take the 12 specific deals, group them by suit pattern, deal all 1,712,304 boards against each, and compare the two seven-card hands. Equity counts a tie as half a win; the flop rows use every one of a board's ten flops. Source: our own exact count from the GeorgeLiPoker poker math library. No outside data is used. ## Related - [99 vs 22: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/99-vs-22.md) - [99 vs 97s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/99-vs-97s.md) - [88 vs 98s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/88-vs-98s.md)