--- title: "A2s vs 97s: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a2s-vs-97s.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a2s-vs-97s" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "Who is ahead, A2s or 97s? A2s leads 55.53% to 44.48% before the flop, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a2s-vs-87s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a2s-vs-86s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/qto-vs-97s.md"] --- # A2s vs 97s: preflop equity Who is ahead, A2s or 97s? A2s leads 55.53% to 44.48% before the flop, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. Over all 1,712,304 boards that can follow this deal, A2s finishes with 55.53% of the pot and 97s with 44.47%. ## A2s against 97s: the numbers **Exact preflop results for A2s against 97s, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | A2s | 55.267 | 0.517 | 44.216 | 55.525 | | 97s | 44.216 | 0.517 | 55.267 | 44.475 | Each side holds one of the suited hands: A2s and 97s. Neither hand shares a rank with the other, so this is a contest of high cards, connection and suits. That is a modest edge, the kind that shows up over many hands and is easy to miss in one. A split pot comes up on 0.52% of boards, so the wins and the equity differ by half of that. A2s ranks number 46 of 169 starting hands, and 97s ranks number 94, by equity against a random hand. **Boards behind the percentages: 27,396,864 counted in all** | Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | A2s | 15,141,000 | 142,000 | 12,114,000 | | 97s | 12,114,000 | 142,000 | 15,141,000 | 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. **A2s 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) | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | A2s | 1.248 | 1.809 | 2.262 | 0.801 | | 97s | 0.801 | 2.262 | 1.809 | 1.248 | The final column gives the least the pot must offer for each unit called for a call to break even at this equity. ## Who is ahead on which flops Paired flops are the best for A2s (61.42%); low rainbow flops (nine high or lower) are the worst (36.40%). Watch for low rainbow flops (nine high or lower): on those flops 97s holds the better equity. **A2s against 97s by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | A2s wins | Ties | 97s wins | A2s equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 25.220 | 58.481 | 0.221 | 41.298 | 58.591 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 5.689 | 36.067 | 0.660 | 63.273 | 36.397 | | Two-tone | 46.727 | 54.146 | 0.274 | 45.580 | 54.283 | | Monotone | 5.273 | 51.701 | 3.433 | 44.866 | 53.418 | | Paired | 17.091 | 61.079 | 0.673 | 38.248 | 61.415 | Flop types: rainbow means three different suits, two-tone means one suit twice, monotone means one suit three times, paired means a repeated rank. ## Compared with a random hand Start from the random-hand figures, 57.38% for A2s and 49.12% for 97s. This opponent changes them by -1.85 and -4.65 points. **A2s 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 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | A2s, all flops | 55.525 | 57.379 | -1.854 | 0.96769 | | A2s, rainbow, ten or higher | 58.591 | 57.379 | +1.212 | 1.02112 | | A2s, rainbow, nine or lower | 36.397 | 57.379 | -20.982 | 0.63433 | | A2s, two-tone | 54.283 | 57.379 | -3.096 | 0.94604 | | A2s, monotone | 53.418 | 57.379 | -3.961 | 0.93097 | | A2s, paired | 61.415 | 57.379 | +4.036 | 1.07034 | | 97s, all flops | 44.475 | 49.118 | -4.643 | 0.90547 | | 97s, rainbow, ten or higher | 41.409 | 49.118 | -7.709 | 0.84305 | | 97s, rainbow, nine or lower | 63.603 | 49.118 | +14.485 | 1.29490 | | 97s, two-tone | 45.717 | 49.118 | -3.401 | 0.93076 | | 97s, monotone | 46.582 | 49.118 | -2.536 | 0.94837 | | 97s, paired | 38.585 | 49.118 | -10.533 | 0.78556 | ## Does a shared suit matter? Does suit overlap move the numbers? A2s has 57.21% when the hands share a suit and 54.97% when they do not. A2s does better with a shared suit, by 2.24 points. **A2s against 97s by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | A2s wins | Ties | 97s wins | A2s equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 4 | 25.00 | 56.906 | 0.600 | 42.494 | 57.206 | | No shared suit | 12 | 75.00 | 54.720 | 0.490 | 44.790 | 54.965 | ## How often this matchup comes up A2s against 97s 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 A $100 all-in from each player makes a $200 pot, and the exact equity says A2s gets $111.06 of it on average and 97s gets $88.94. Run 1,000 deals and the tally comes out near 553 for A2s, 442 for 97s and 5 ties. ## The same matchup from the other side If you came looking for 97s against A2s, the numbers are the same with the hands swapped: 44.47% and 55.53%. ## Keep exploring The calculator link fills in As2s against 9h7h, a deal where the two hands share no suit. Change any card to test your own hand. The neighboring matchups below swap one of the two hands for one of similar strength. - [Open As2s against 9h7h in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=As2s&p2=9h7h) - [A2s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/a2s.md) - [97s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/97s.md) - [A2s vs 87s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a2s-vs-87s.md) - [A2s vs 86s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a2s-vs-86s.md) - [QTo vs 97s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/qto-vs-97s.md) - [All hand matchups](https://georgelipoker.com/equity.md) ## How this was computed We counted every case. Each suit pattern of the 16 specific A2s against 97s 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 - [A2s vs 87s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a2s-vs-87s.md) - [A2s vs 86s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a2s-vs-86s.md) - [QTo vs 97s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/qto-vs-97s.md)