--- title: "A8s vs 22: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a8s-vs-22.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a8s-vs-22" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "A8s vs 22 is close to a coin flip before the flop: 50.02% to 49.98% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a8s-vs-97s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a8s-vs-87s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kts-vs-22.md"] --- # A8s vs 22: preflop equity A8s vs 22 is close to a coin flip before the flop: 50.02% to 49.98% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. Averaged over every possible board, A8s is ahead of 22 by 0.04 points of equity, 50.02% to 49.98%. ## A8s against 22: the numbers **Exact preflop results for A8s against 22, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | A8s | 49.720 | 0.607 | 49.673 | 50.024 | | 22 | 49.673 | 0.607 | 49.720 | 49.976 | A8s is a suited hand and 22 is a pocket pair. A pair against two higher cards is the classic race: the pair is usually a small favorite or close to even, and each overcard that pairs is a way to take the lead. The split is even enough that who is called the favorite depends on the fourth decimal. 0.61% of boards are ties, so the equity of each hand is its win rate plus half of that. By strength against a random hand, A8s holds place 21 of 169 and 22 holds place 87. **Boards behind the percentages: 41,095,296 counted in all** | Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | A8s | 20,433,000 | 249,000 | 20,413,000 | | 22 | 20,413,000 | 249,000 | 20,433,000 | Exact total: 24 deals times 1,712,304 boards. The other three counts come from the five-decimal percentages and are rounded to the nearest thousand, so read them as approximate. **A8s against 22 read as odds** | Hand | Equity as odds (to 1) | Wins one deal in | Loses one deal in | Pot odds needed to call (to 1) | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | A8s | 1.001 | 2.011 | 2.013 | 0.999 | | 22 | 0.999 | 2.013 | 2.011 | 1.001 | 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 Split by what the flop looks like, A8s peaks at 50.94% on paired flops and bottoms out at 44.04% on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower). A8s is the favorite overall but falls behind on rainbow flops topped by a ten or better and low rainbow flops (nine high or lower). **A8s against 22 by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | A8s wins | Ties | 22 wins | A8s equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 25.220 | 49.374 | 0.247 | 50.379 | 49.498 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 5.689 | 43.559 | 0.966 | 55.475 | 44.042 | | Two-tone | 46.545 | 50.522 | 0.352 | 49.126 | 50.698 | | Monotone | 5.212 | 48.186 | 3.730 | 48.084 | 50.051 | | Paired | 17.334 | 50.556 | 0.758 | 48.686 | 50.935 | 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 Compared with a random opponent, this matchup shifts A8s from 61.94% by -11.92 points and 22 from 50.33% by -0.35 points. **A8s and 22 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 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | A8s, all flops | 50.024 | 61.944 | -11.920 | 0.80757 | | A8s, rainbow, ten or higher | 49.498 | 61.944 | -12.446 | 0.79908 | | A8s, rainbow, nine or lower | 44.042 | 61.944 | -17.902 | 0.71100 | | A8s, two-tone | 50.698 | 61.944 | -11.246 | 0.81845 | | A8s, monotone | 50.051 | 61.944 | -11.893 | 0.80800 | | A8s, paired | 50.935 | 61.944 | -11.009 | 0.82227 | | 22, all flops | 49.976 | 50.334 | -0.358 | 0.99289 | | 22, rainbow, ten or higher | 50.502 | 50.334 | +0.168 | 1.00334 | | 22, rainbow, nine or lower | 55.958 | 50.334 | +5.624 | 1.11173 | | 22, two-tone | 49.302 | 50.334 | -1.032 | 0.97950 | | 22, monotone | 49.949 | 50.334 | -0.385 | 0.99235 | | 22, paired | 49.065 | 50.334 | -1.269 | 0.97479 | ## Does a shared suit matter? Does suit overlap move the numbers? A8s has 49.83% when the hands share a suit and 50.22% when they do not. A8s does better with no shared suit, by 0.39 points. **A8s against 22 by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | A8s wins | Ties | 22 wins | A8s equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 12 | 50.00 | 49.518 | 0.627 | 49.855 | 49.832 | | No shared suit | 12 | 50.00 | 49.923 | 0.587 | 49.490 | 50.216 | ## How often this matchup comes up A8s against 22 is made up of 24 specific-card matchups in one seat order, 0.0015% of the 1,624,350 ordered deals, and 48 counting both seat orders, 0.0030%. ## A worked example With $100 from each side, the $200 pot is split on average as $100.04 for A8s and $99.96 for 22; the first side gains $0.04 per all-in and the second gives up $0.04. Run 1,000 deals and the tally comes out near 497 for A8s, 497 for 22 and 6 ties. ## The same matchup from the other side Read it from the other side: 22 against A8s is the same matchup with the numbers swapped, so 22 holds 49.98% and A8s holds 50.02%. That address sends you back to this page. ## Keep exploring Open the calculator with As8s against 2h2d 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 As8s against 2h2d in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=As8s&p2=2h2d) - [A8s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/a8s.md) - [22 combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/22.md) - [A8s vs 97s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a8s-vs-97s.md) - [A8s vs 87s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a8s-vs-87s.md) - [KTs vs 22](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kts-vs-22.md) - [All hand matchups](https://georgelipoker.com/equity.md) ## How this was computed We counted every case. Each suit pattern of the 24 specific A8s against 22 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 - [A8s vs 97s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a8s-vs-97s.md) - [A8s vs 87s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a8s-vs-87s.md) - [KTs vs 22: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kts-vs-22.md)