--- title: "A5s vs 97s: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a5s-vs-97s.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a5s-vs-97s" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "Who is ahead, A5s or 97s? A5s leads 56.70% to 43.30% before the flop, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a5s-vs-87s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a5s-vs-86s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a6s-vs-97s.md"] --- # A5s vs 97s: preflop equity Who is ahead, A5s or 97s? A5s leads 56.70% to 43.30% 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, A5s finishes with 56.70% of the pot and 97s with 43.30%. ## A5s against 97s: the numbers **Exact preflop results for A5s against 97s, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | A5s | 56.451 | 0.501 | 43.048 | 56.701 | | 97s | 43.048 | 0.501 | 56.451 | 43.299 | This is a contest between two suited hands, A5s and 97s. The two hands share no rank, which makes this a pure matchup of card strength, straight chances and flush chances. A5s is ahead, but 97s is far from dead: it takes 430 of every 1,000 deals outright. Split pots make up 0.50% of the boards, and both equity figures count them as half a win each. The hand ranking puts A5s at 30 and 97s at 94 out of 169 starting hands. **Boards behind the percentages: 27,396,864 counted in all** | Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | A5s | 15,466,000 | 137,000 | 11,794,000 | | 97s | 11,794,000 | 137,000 | 15,466,000 | 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. **A5s 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) | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | A5s | 1.310 | 1.771 | 2.323 | 0.764 | | 97s | 0.764 | 2.323 | 1.771 | 1.310 | 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 The flop changes the picture. A5s does best on paired flops, at 62.01%, and worst on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower), at 41.07%. On low rainbow flops (nine high or lower) the numbers flip and 97s is the one ahead. **A5s against 97s by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | A5s wins | Ties | 97s wins | A5s equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 25.220 | 59.197 | 0.221 | 40.582 | 59.307 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 5.689 | 40.792 | 0.547 | 58.661 | 41.066 | | Two-tone | 46.727 | 55.398 | 0.258 | 44.344 | 55.527 | | Monotone | 5.273 | 52.576 | 3.423 | 44.001 | 54.288 | | Paired | 17.091 | 61.684 | 0.661 | 37.655 | 62.014 | 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 How much does the opponent matter? Compared with its random-hand 59.92%, A5s changes by -3.22 points, and 97s, from 49.12%, by -5.82. **A5s 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 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | A5s, all flops | 56.701 | 59.923 | -3.222 | 0.94623 | | A5s, rainbow, ten or higher | 59.307 | 59.923 | -0.616 | 0.98972 | | A5s, rainbow, nine or lower | 41.066 | 59.923 | -18.857 | 0.68531 | | A5s, two-tone | 55.527 | 59.923 | -4.396 | 0.92664 | | A5s, monotone | 54.288 | 59.923 | -5.635 | 0.90596 | | A5s, paired | 62.014 | 59.923 | +2.091 | 1.03489 | | 97s, all flops | 43.299 | 49.118 | -5.819 | 0.88153 | | 97s, rainbow, ten or higher | 40.693 | 49.118 | -8.425 | 0.82847 | | 97s, rainbow, nine or lower | 58.934 | 49.118 | +9.816 | 1.19985 | | 97s, two-tone | 44.473 | 49.118 | -4.645 | 0.90543 | | 97s, monotone | 45.712 | 49.118 | -3.406 | 0.93066 | | 97s, paired | 37.986 | 49.118 | -11.132 | 0.77336 | ## Does a shared suit matter? Suit overlap shows up in the numbers. With a suit in common A5s has 58.53% equity, and with none in common it has 56.09%. A5s does better with a shared suit, by 2.44 points. **A5s against 97s by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | A5s wins | Ties | 97s wins | A5s equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 4 | 25.00 | 58.239 | 0.580 | 41.181 | 58.529 | | No shared suit | 12 | 75.00 | 55.855 | 0.474 | 43.671 | 56.092 | ## How often this matchup comes up Out of 1,624,350 ways to deal two seats two cards each, 16 are A5s in one seat and 97s in the other (0.0010%); with the seats swapped too, 32 (0.0020%). ## A worked example Try it with money: two players each put in $100 and the whole board runs out every possible way. A5s averages $113.40 from the $200, up $13.40; 97s averages $86.60, down $13.40. Per 1,000 deals: A5s wins about 565, 97s wins about 430, and about 5 end in a split pot. ## The same matchup from the other side 97s against A5s adds nothing new: it is 43.30% for 97s and 56.70% for A5s, the same figures reversed. ## Keep exploring Try As5s 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 As5s against 9h7h in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=As5s&p2=9h7h) - [A5s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/a5s.md) - [97s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/97s.md) - [A5s vs 87s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a5s-vs-87s.md) - [A5s vs 86s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a5s-vs-86s.md) - [A6s vs 97s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a6s-vs-97s.md) - [All hand matchups](https://georgelipoker.com/equity.md) ## How this was computed The figures are counted, not estimated: 1,712,304 boards for every suit pattern of the 16 specific deals, with both seven-card hands compared each time. Equity gives half a win for a tie. For the flop rows, a board is counted once under each of the ten flops inside it. Source: our own exact count from the GeorgeLiPoker poker math library. No outside data is used. ## Related - [A5s vs 87s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a5s-vs-87s.md) - [A5s vs 86s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a5s-vs-86s.md) - [A6s vs 97s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a6s-vs-97s.md)