--- title: "A6s vs 98s: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a6s-vs-98s.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a6s-vs-98s" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "Who is ahead, A6s or 98s? A6s leads 55.58% to 44.42% before the flop, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a6s-vs-22.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a6s-vs-97s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kto-vs-98s.md"] --- # A6s vs 98s: preflop equity Who is ahead, A6s or 98s? A6s leads 55.58% to 44.42% before the flop, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. Averaged over every possible board, A6s is ahead of 98s by 11.16 points of equity, 55.58% to 44.42%. ## A6s against 98s: the numbers **Exact preflop results for A6s against 98s, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | A6s | 55.347 | 0.463 | 44.190 | 55.579 | | 98s | 44.190 | 0.463 | 55.347 | 44.421 | Two suited hands meet here: A6s against 98s. The two hands share no rank, which makes this a pure matchup of card strength, straight chances and flush chances. The lead is steady rather than large, and the flop still has plenty of say in who wins. Split pots make up 0.46% of the boards, and both equity figures count them as half a win each. The hand ranking puts A6s at 31 and 98s at 83 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 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | A6s | 15,163,000 | 127,000 | 12,107,000 | | 98s | 12,107,000 | 127,000 | 15,163,000 | 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. **A6s 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) | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | A6s | 1.251 | 1.807 | 2.263 | 0.799 | | 98s | 0.799 | 2.263 | 1.807 | 1.251 | 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 Break the boards down by their first three cards and A6s is strongest on paired flops (61.24%) and weakest on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower) (39.45%). 98s takes over on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower), so the favorite before the flop is the underdog on those boards. **A6s against 98s by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | A6s wins | Ties | 98s wins | A6s equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 25.220 | 58.006 | 0.171 | 41.823 | 58.092 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 5.689 | 39.198 | 0.509 | 60.293 | 39.452 | | Two-tone | 46.727 | 54.257 | 0.215 | 45.528 | 54.364 | | Monotone | 5.273 | 51.674 | 3.390 | 44.936 | 53.369 | | Paired | 17.091 | 60.913 | 0.653 | 38.434 | 61.240 | 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 Against one random hand instead, A6s holds 59.91% and 98s holds 50.80%. Facing each other changes that by -4.33 points for A6s and -6.38 points for 98s. **A6s 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 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | A6s, all flops | 55.579 | 59.906 | -4.327 | 0.92777 | | A6s, rainbow, ten or higher | 58.092 | 59.906 | -1.814 | 0.96972 | | A6s, rainbow, nine or lower | 39.452 | 59.906 | -20.454 | 0.65857 | | A6s, two-tone | 54.364 | 59.906 | -5.542 | 0.90749 | | A6s, monotone | 53.369 | 59.906 | -6.537 | 0.89088 | | A6s, paired | 61.240 | 59.906 | +1.334 | 1.02227 | | 98s, all flops | 44.421 | 50.801 | -6.380 | 0.87441 | | 98s, rainbow, ten or higher | 41.908 | 50.801 | -8.893 | 0.82494 | | 98s, rainbow, nine or lower | 60.548 | 50.801 | +9.747 | 1.19187 | | 98s, two-tone | 45.636 | 50.801 | -5.165 | 0.89833 | | 98s, monotone | 46.631 | 50.801 | -4.170 | 0.91792 | | 98s, paired | 38.760 | 50.801 | -12.041 | 0.76298 | ## Does a shared suit matter? When the hands share a suit, A6s holds 57.30%; when they do not, it holds 55.01%. A6s does better with a shared suit, by 2.29 points. **A6s against 98s by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | A6s wins | Ties | 98s wins | A6s equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 4 | 25.00 | 57.029 | 0.538 | 42.433 | 57.298 | | No shared suit | 12 | 75.00 | 54.787 | 0.438 | 44.775 | 55.006 | ## How often this matchup comes up This page stands for 16 specific-card matchups (0.0010% of 1,624,350 ordered deals), or 32 once you count the seats both ways (0.0020%). ## A worked example To see what the equity is worth, imagine $100 each in a $200 pot. A6s is worth $111.16 on average (+$11.16); 98s is worth $88.84 (-$11.16). In 1,000 deals of exactly this matchup, expect about 553 won outright by A6s, about 442 won outright by 98s and about 5 split. ## The same matchup from the other side The reversed view, 98s against A6s, shows 44.42% for 98s and 55.58% for A6s. It is the same count, so it redirects here. ## Keep exploring Try As6s against 9h8h 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 As6s against 9h8h in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=As6s&p2=9h8h) - [A6s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/a6s.md) - [98s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/98s.md) - [A6s vs 22](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a6s-vs-22.md) - [A6s vs 97s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a6s-vs-97s.md) - [KTo vs 98s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kto-vs-98s.md) - [All hand matchups](https://georgelipoker.com/equity.md) ## How this was computed We counted every case. Each suit pattern of the 16 specific A6s against 98s 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 - [A6s vs 22: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a6s-vs-22.md) - [A6s vs 97s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a6s-vs-97s.md) - [KTo vs 98s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kto-vs-98s.md)