--- title: "A8s vs 44: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a8s-vs-44.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a8s-vs-44" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "A8s vs 44 is close to a coin flip before the flop: 48.37% to 51.63% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a8s-vs-j9s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a8s-vs-jto.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kts-vs-44.md"] --- # A8s vs 44: preflop equity A8s vs 44 is close to a coin flip before the flop: 48.37% to 51.63% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. Counting every board, the equity split is 51.63% for 44 and 48.37% for A8s, so 44 leads by 3.26 points. ## A8s against 44: the numbers **Exact preflop results for A8s against 44, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | A8s | 48.116 | 0.515 | 51.369 | 48.373 | | 44 | 51.369 | 0.515 | 48.116 | 51.627 | A8s and 44 are a suited hand and a pocket pair, in that order. One hand holds a pair and the other holds two cards that both outrank it, which keeps the equity closer than most people expect. That is a slim edge: neither hand is far ahead. Of every 100 boards, about 0.52 are split pots, and the equity figures already include them. Ranked by equity against a random hand, A8s is number 21 of the 169 starting hands and 44 is number 48. **Boards behind the percentages: 41,095,296 counted in all** | Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | A8s | 19,773,000 | 212,000 | 21,110,000 | | 44 | 21,110,000 | 212,000 | 19,773,000 | The board total is exact, 24 deals at 1,712,304 boards each. Won, tied and lost counts are rounded to the nearest thousand from the five-decimal percentages. **A8s against 44 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 | 0.937 | 2.078 | 1.947 | 1.067 | | 44 | 1.067 | 1.947 | 2.078 | 0.937 | 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 44 prefers low rainbow flops (nine high or lower), where it holds 58.87%, and likes two-tone flops least, where it holds 50.41%. 44 stays ahead on all five textures. **A8s against 44 by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | A8s wins | Ties | 44 wins | A8s equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 25.220 | 48.581 | 0.247 | 51.172 | 48.705 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 5.689 | 40.715 | 0.822 | 58.463 | 41.126 | | Two-tone | 46.545 | 49.424 | 0.328 | 50.248 | 49.588 | | Monotone | 5.212 | 47.368 | 2.823 | 49.809 | 48.780 | | Paired | 17.334 | 46.580 | 0.612 | 52.808 | 46.886 | Read the flop types this way: rainbow has three suits, two-tone has two cards of one suit, monotone has three, and paired repeats a rank. ## Compared with a random hand How much does the opponent matter? Compared with its random-hand 61.94%, A8s changes by -13.57 points, and 44, from 57.02%, by -5.39. **A8s and 44 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 | 48.373 | 61.944 | -13.571 | 0.78092 | | A8s, rainbow, ten or higher | 48.705 | 61.944 | -13.239 | 0.78627 | | A8s, rainbow, nine or lower | 41.126 | 61.944 | -20.818 | 0.66392 | | A8s, two-tone | 49.588 | 61.944 | -12.356 | 0.80053 | | A8s, monotone | 48.780 | 61.944 | -13.164 | 0.78749 | | A8s, paired | 46.886 | 61.944 | -15.058 | 0.75691 | | 44, all flops | 51.627 | 57.023 | -5.396 | 0.90537 | | 44, rainbow, ten or higher | 51.295 | 57.023 | -5.728 | 0.89955 | | 44, rainbow, nine or lower | 58.874 | 57.023 | +1.851 | 1.03246 | | 44, two-tone | 50.412 | 57.023 | -6.611 | 0.88406 | | 44, monotone | 51.220 | 57.023 | -5.803 | 0.89823 | | 44, paired | 53.114 | 57.023 | -3.909 | 0.93145 | ## Does a shared suit matter? The suit split reads 51.81% for 44 with a shared suit and 51.44% without one. 44 does better with a shared suit, by 0.37 points. **A8s against 44 by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | A8s wins | Ties | 44 wins | A8s equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 12 | 50.00 | 47.915 | 0.551 | 51.534 | 48.191 | | No shared suit | 12 | 50.00 | 48.317 | 0.479 | 51.204 | 48.556 | ## How often this matchup comes up Exactly 24 specific deals fit this matchup in one seat order, which is 0.0015% of 1,624,350; both orders together give 48, or 0.0030%. ## A worked example Worked example: both players commit $100, so $200 sits in the middle. Over every board, 44's average share is $103.26 (a gain of $3.26) and A8s' is $96.74 (a loss of $3.26). In 1,000 deals of exactly this matchup, expect about 514 won outright by 44, about 481 won outright by A8s and about 5 split. ## The same matchup from the other side Swap the hands and you get 44 with 51.63% against A8s with 48.37%. We keep one page per matchup, with the better-ranked hand first. ## Keep exploring Open the calculator with As8s against 4h4d 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 4h4d in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=As8s&p2=4h4d) - [A8s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/a8s.md) - [44 combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/44.md) - [A8s vs J9s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a8s-vs-j9s.md) - [A8s vs JTo](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a8s-vs-jto.md) - [KTs vs 44](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kts-vs-44.md) - [All hand matchups](https://georgelipoker.com/equity.md) ## How this was computed The page is built from a full enumeration: 1,712,304 boards, every suit pattern of the 24 specific deals, both seven-card hands evaluated. A tie is worth half a win to each hand, and a board is tallied under each of its ten possible flops for the texture rows. Source: our own exact count from the GeorgeLiPoker poker math library. No outside data is used. ## Related - [A8s vs J9s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a8s-vs-j9s.md) - [A8s vs JTo: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a8s-vs-jto.md) - [KTs vs 44: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kts-vs-44.md)