--- title: "A4s vs 97s: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a4s-vs-97s.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a4s-vs-97s" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "Who is ahead, A4s or 97s? A4s leads 55.91% to 44.09% before the flop, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a4s-vs-87s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a4s-vs-86s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a3s-vs-97s.md"] --- # A4s vs 97s: preflop equity Who is ahead, A4s or 97s? A4s leads 55.91% to 44.09% before the flop, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. Dealt all in against each other, A4s takes 55.91% of the pot on average and 97s takes the other 44.09%. ## A4s against 97s: the numbers **Exact preflop results for A4s against 97s, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | A4s | 55.655 | 0.508 | 43.837 | 55.909 | | 97s | 43.837 | 0.508 | 55.655 | 44.091 | This is a contest between two suited hands, A4s and 97s. The two hands share no rank, which makes this a pure matchup of card strength, straight chances and flush chances. That is a modest edge, the kind that shows up over many hands and is easy to miss in one. Split pots make up 0.51% of the boards, and both equity figures count them as half a win each. For context, A4s sits at number 35 of 169 starting hands and 97s at number 94 when each is run against a random hand. **Boards behind the percentages: 27,396,864 counted in all** | Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | A4s | 15,248,000 | 139,000 | 12,010,000 | | 97s | 12,010,000 | 139,000 | 15,248,000 | 16 specific deals times 1,712,304 boards gives the exact total. The won, tied and lost counts are approximations from the five-decimal percentages, rounded to the nearest thousand. **A4s 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) | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | A4s | 1.268 | 1.797 | 2.281 | 0.789 | | 97s | 0.789 | 2.281 | 1.797 | 1.268 | The last column is the smallest pot odds, written as a pot-to-call ratio, at which a call breaks even with this equity. ## Who is ahead on which flops Across the five flop textures A4s' equity moves by 23.43 points, from 38.12% on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower) to 61.55% on paired flops. The lead reverses on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower): there 97s is the favorite even though A4s is ahead overall. **A4s against 97s by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | A4s wins | Ties | 97s wins | A4s equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 25.220 | 58.687 | 0.221 | 41.092 | 58.797 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 5.689 | 37.818 | 0.595 | 61.587 | 38.115 | | Two-tone | 46.727 | 54.568 | 0.265 | 45.167 | 54.701 | | Monotone | 5.273 | 52.000 | 3.427 | 44.573 | 53.714 | | Paired | 17.091 | 61.221 | 0.665 | 38.114 | 61.554 | 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 Start from the random-hand figures, 59.03% for A4s and 49.12% for 97s. This opponent changes them by -3.12 and -5.03 points. **A4s 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 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | A4s, all flops | 55.909 | 59.034 | -3.125 | 0.94706 | | A4s, rainbow, ten or higher | 58.797 | 59.034 | -0.237 | 0.99599 | | A4s, rainbow, nine or lower | 38.115 | 59.034 | -20.919 | 0.64564 | | A4s, two-tone | 54.701 | 59.034 | -4.333 | 0.92660 | | A4s, monotone | 53.714 | 59.034 | -5.320 | 0.90988 | | A4s, paired | 61.554 | 59.034 | +2.520 | 1.04269 | | 97s, all flops | 44.091 | 49.118 | -5.027 | 0.89765 | | 97s, rainbow, ten or higher | 41.203 | 49.118 | -7.915 | 0.83886 | | 97s, rainbow, nine or lower | 61.885 | 49.118 | +12.767 | 1.25993 | | 97s, two-tone | 45.299 | 49.118 | -3.819 | 0.92225 | | 97s, monotone | 46.286 | 49.118 | -2.832 | 0.94234 | | 97s, paired | 38.446 | 49.118 | -10.672 | 0.78273 | ## Does a shared suit matter? Suit overlap shows up in the numbers. With a suit in common A4s has 57.63% equity, and with none in common it has 55.34%. A4s does better with a shared suit, by 2.29 points. **A4s against 97s by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | A4s wins | Ties | 97s wins | A4s equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 4 | 25.00 | 57.333 | 0.589 | 42.078 | 57.628 | | No shared suit | 12 | 75.00 | 55.096 | 0.481 | 44.423 | 55.337 | ## How often this matchup comes up You will meet this exact matchup 0.0020% of the time in a random heads-up deal: 32 of 1,624,350, counting either seat order. ## A worked example With $100 from each side, the $200 pot is split on average as $111.82 for A4s and $88.18 for 97s; the first side gains $11.82 per all-in and the second gives up $11.82. Over a long run, 1,000 deals split into about 557 for A4s, 438 for 97s and 5 tied. ## The same matchup from the other side One page covers both views. From 97s' side the equity is 44.09%, and from A4s' side it is 55.91%. ## Keep exploring Try As4s against 9h7h in the calculator: the hands share no suit, and every card can be changed. The links after it are the closest matchups in the ranking. - [Open As4s against 9h7h in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=As4s&p2=9h7h) - [A4s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/a4s.md) - [97s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/97s.md) - [A4s vs 87s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a4s-vs-87s.md) - [A4s vs 86s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a4s-vs-86s.md) - [A3s vs 97s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a3s-vs-97s.md) - [All hand matchups](https://georgelipoker.com/equity.md) ## How this was computed Nothing here is simulated. The 16 deals of A4s against 97s fall into a few suit patterns, each dealt against all 1,712,304 boards, with both best five-card hands compared on every board. Ties give each hand half a win, and the flop rows count a board under each of its ten flops. Source: our own exact count from the GeorgeLiPoker poker math library. No outside data is used. ## Related - [A4s vs 87s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a4s-vs-87s.md) - [A4s vs 86s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a4s-vs-86s.md) - [A3s vs 97s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a3s-vs-97s.md)