--- title: "A8s vs 98s: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a8s-vs-98s.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a8s-vs-98s" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "A8s is a big favorite over 98s before the flop: 67.29% to 32.71% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a8s-vs-22.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a8s-vs-97s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kts-vs-98s.md"] --- # A8s vs 98s: preflop equity A8s is a big favorite over 98s before the flop: 67.29% to 32.71% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. Averaged over every possible board, A8s is ahead of 98s by 34.58 points of equity, 67.29% to 32.71%. ## A8s against 98s: the numbers **Exact preflop results for A8s against 98s, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | A8s | 66.288 | 2.005 | 31.707 | 67.290 | | 98s | 31.707 | 2.005 | 66.288 | 32.710 | A8s meets 98s, and both are suited hands. The two hands share a rank, and the one with the better other card dominates: it wins most kicker battles when that shared rank hits. A8s is well ahead, and 98s needs a specific kind of board to catch up. About 2.01% of boards chop the pot, which is why equity sits slightly above the win figure for both hands. By strength against a random hand, A8s holds place 21 of 169 and 98s holds place 83. **Boards behind the percentages: 20,547,648 counted in all** | Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | A8s | 13,621,000 | 412,000 | 6,515,000 | | 98s | 6,515,000 | 412,000 | 13,621,000 | 12 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. **A8s 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) | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | A8s | 2.057 | 1.509 | 3.154 | 0.486 | | 98s | 0.486 | 3.154 | 1.509 | 2.057 | 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 Split by what the flop looks like, A8s peaks at 71.80% on paired flops and bottoms out at 55.52% on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower). A8s stays ahead on all five textures, but the swing between them is large, so how the flop looks matters a great deal. **A8s against 98s by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | A8s wins | Ties | 98s wins | A8s equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 25.254 | 69.932 | 1.685 | 28.383 | 70.774 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 5.654 | 53.958 | 3.116 | 42.926 | 55.516 | | Two-tone | 46.543 | 64.958 | 1.706 | 33.336 | 65.811 | | Monotone | 5.215 | 59.322 | 4.153 | 36.525 | 61.398 | | Paired | 17.334 | 70.666 | 2.268 | 27.066 | 71.800 | 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, A8s holds 61.94% and 98s holds 50.80%. Facing each other changes that by +5.35 points for A8s and -18.09 points for 98s. **A8s 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 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | A8s, all flops | 67.290 | 61.944 | +5.346 | 1.08630 | | A8s, rainbow, ten or higher | 70.774 | 61.944 | +8.830 | 1.14255 | | A8s, rainbow, nine or lower | 55.516 | 61.944 | -6.428 | 0.89623 | | A8s, two-tone | 65.811 | 61.944 | +3.867 | 1.06243 | | A8s, monotone | 61.398 | 61.944 | -0.546 | 0.99119 | | A8s, paired | 71.800 | 61.944 | +9.856 | 1.15911 | | 98s, all flops | 32.710 | 50.801 | -18.091 | 0.64388 | | 98s, rainbow, ten or higher | 29.226 | 50.801 | -21.575 | 0.57530 | | 98s, rainbow, nine or lower | 44.484 | 50.801 | -6.317 | 0.87565 | | 98s, two-tone | 34.189 | 50.801 | -16.612 | 0.67300 | | 98s, monotone | 38.602 | 50.801 | -12.199 | 0.75987 | | 98s, paired | 28.200 | 50.801 | -22.601 | 0.55511 | ## Does a shared suit matter? Suits do not split this matchup, because no legal deal has the hands holding the same suit. **A8s against 98s by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | A8s wins | Ties | 98s wins | A8s equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 0 | 0.00 | not possible | not possible | not possible | not possible | | No shared suit | 12 | 100.00 | 66.288 | 2.005 | 31.707 | 67.290 | ## How often this matchup comes up Out of 1,624,350 ways to deal two seats two cards each, 12 are A8s in one seat and 98s in the other (0.0007%); with the seats swapped too, 24 (0.0015%). ## A worked example Say each player puts $100 in before the flop, making a $200 pot. On average A8s takes back $134.58 of it, which is $34.58 more than it put in, and 98s takes back $65.42, $34.58 less than it put in. Per 1,000 deals: A8s wins about 663, 98s wins about 317, and about 20 end in a split pot. ## The same matchup from the other side The mirror image, 98s against A8s, is 32.71% to 67.29%, and its address redirects to this page. ## Keep exploring As8s against 9h8h is a ready-made deal for the calculator, with no suit in common between the hands. The neighboring matchups below replace one hand with another of similar strength. - [Open As8s against 9h8h in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=As8s&p2=9h8h) - [A8s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/a8s.md) - [98s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/98s.md) - [A8s vs 22](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a8s-vs-22.md) - [A8s vs 97s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a8s-vs-97s.md) - [KTs vs 98s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kts-vs-98s.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 12 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 - [A8s vs 22: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a8s-vs-22.md) - [A8s vs 97s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a8s-vs-97s.md) - [KTs vs 98s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kts-vs-98s.md)