--- title: "A2s vs 98s: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a2s-vs-98s.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a2s-vs-98s" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "Who is ahead, A2s or 98s? A2s leads 54.73% to 45.27% before the flop, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a2s-vs-22.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a2s-vs-97s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/qto-vs-98s.md"] --- # A2s vs 98s: preflop equity Who is ahead, A2s or 98s? A2s leads 54.73% to 45.27% 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 54.73% of the pot and 98s with 45.27%. ## A2s against 98s: the numbers **Exact preflop results for A2s against 98s, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | A2s | 54.479 | 0.508 | 45.013 | 54.733 | | 98s | 45.013 | 0.508 | 54.479 | 45.267 | Each side holds one of the suited hands: A2s and 98s. With no overlap in ranks, every card that pairs one hand is a card that does not pair the other. That is a slim edge: neither hand is far ahead. About 0.51% of boards chop the pot, which is why equity sits slightly above the win figure for both hands. Among the 169 starting hands, A2s is number 46 and 98s is number 83 by strength 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 | 14,926,000 | 139,000 | 12,332,000 | | 98s | 12,332,000 | 139,000 | 14,926,000 | The board total is exact, 16 deals at 1,712,304 boards each. Won, tied and lost counts are rounded to the nearest thousand from the five-decimal percentages. **A2s 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) | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | A2s | 1.209 | 1.836 | 2.222 | 0.827 | | 98s | 0.827 | 2.222 | 1.836 | 1.209 | 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 If you know the kind of flop that came, the numbers shift: A2s holds 60.60% on paired flops and 38.03% on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower). A2s is the favorite overall but falls behind on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower). **A2s against 98s by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | A2s wins | Ties | 98s wins | A2s equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 25.220 | 57.071 | 0.204 | 42.725 | 57.173 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 5.689 | 37.700 | 0.660 | 61.640 | 38.030 | | Two-tone | 46.727 | 53.385 | 0.265 | 46.350 | 53.518 | | Monotone | 5.273 | 51.121 | 3.430 | 45.449 | 52.836 | | Paired | 17.091 | 60.269 | 0.670 | 39.061 | 60.604 | 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, 57.38% for A2s and 50.80% for 98s. This opponent changes them by -2.65 and -5.53 points. **A2s 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 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | A2s, all flops | 54.733 | 57.379 | -2.646 | 0.95389 | | A2s, rainbow, ten or higher | 57.173 | 57.379 | -0.206 | 0.99641 | | A2s, rainbow, nine or lower | 38.030 | 57.379 | -19.349 | 0.66279 | | A2s, two-tone | 53.518 | 57.379 | -3.861 | 0.93271 | | A2s, monotone | 52.836 | 57.379 | -4.543 | 0.92082 | | A2s, paired | 60.604 | 57.379 | +3.225 | 1.05621 | | 98s, all flops | 45.267 | 50.801 | -5.534 | 0.89107 | | 98s, rainbow, ten or higher | 42.827 | 50.801 | -7.974 | 0.84303 | | 98s, rainbow, nine or lower | 61.970 | 50.801 | +11.169 | 1.21986 | | 98s, two-tone | 46.482 | 50.801 | -4.319 | 0.91498 | | 98s, monotone | 47.164 | 50.801 | -3.637 | 0.92841 | | 98s, paired | 39.396 | 50.801 | -11.405 | 0.77550 | ## Does a shared suit matter? Two kinds of deal exist here. In 4 of them the hands share a suit and A2s holds 56.31%. In 12 they do not, and it holds 54.21%. A2s does better with a shared suit, by 2.10 points. **A2s against 98s by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | A2s wins | Ties | 98s wins | A2s equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 4 | 25.00 | 56.013 | 0.589 | 43.398 | 56.308 | | No shared suit | 12 | 75.00 | 53.968 | 0.481 | 45.551 | 54.209 | ## How often this matchup comes up How often does it happen? 16 of the 1,624,350 ordered deals (0.0010%) are A2s against 98s, and 32 (0.0020%) if either hand may sit in either seat. ## A worked example Say each player puts $100 in before the flop, making a $200 pot. On average A2s takes back $109.46 of it, which is $9.46 more than it put in, and 98s takes back $90.54, $9.46 less than it put in. Over a long run, 1,000 deals split into about 545 for A2s, 450 for 98s and 5 tied. ## The same matchup from the other side The mirror image, 98s against A2s, is 45.27% to 54.73%, and its address redirects to this page. ## Keep exploring Open the calculator with As2s against 9h8h 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 As2s against 9h8h in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=As2s&p2=9h8h) - [A2s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/a2s.md) - [98s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/98s.md) - [A2s vs 22](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a2s-vs-22.md) - [A2s vs 97s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a2s-vs-97s.md) - [QTo vs 98s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/qto-vs-98s.md) - [All hand matchups](https://georgelipoker.com/equity.md) ## How this was computed All 1,712,304 five-card boards are dealt for every suit pattern among the 16 specific deals of A2s against 98s, and both hands are scored on each. That is a full count, so the percentages are exact. Ties are half a win each, and each board appears once per flop it contains. Source: our own exact count from the GeorgeLiPoker poker math library. No outside data is used. ## Related - [A2s vs 22: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a2s-vs-22.md) - [A2s vs 97s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a2s-vs-97s.md) - [QTo vs 98s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/qto-vs-98s.md)