--- title: "A8s vs A5s: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a8s-vs-a5s.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a8s-vs-a5s" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "A8s is a big favorite over A5s before the flop: 63.00% to 37.01% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a8s-vs-a6s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a8s-vs-kto.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kts-vs-a5s.md"] --- # A8s vs A5s: preflop equity A8s is a big favorite over A5s before the flop: 63.00% to 37.01% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. Dealt all in against each other, A8s takes 63.00% of the pot on average and A5s takes the other 37.00%. ## A8s against A5s: the numbers **Exact preflop results for A8s against A5s, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | A8s | 53.575 | 18.840 | 27.585 | 62.995 | | A5s | 27.585 | 18.840 | 53.575 | 37.005 | A8s meets A5s, and both are suited hands. Because the hands share one rank, the one with the higher kicker is ahead when that rank pairs and the other hand is mostly drawing. The lead is steady rather than large, and the flop still has plenty of say in who wins. Ties are 18.84% of the outcomes here; each tied board gives both hands half the pot. For context, A8s sits at number 21 of 169 starting hands and A5s at number 30 when each is run against a random hand. **Boards behind the percentages: 20,547,648 counted in all** | Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | A8s | 11,008,000 | 3,871,000 | 5,668,000 | | A5s | 5,668,000 | 3,871,000 | 11,008,000 | Exact total: 12 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 A5s 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 | 1.702 | 1.867 | 3.625 | 0.587 | | A5s | 0.587 | 3.625 | 1.867 | 1.702 | 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 65.98% on rainbow flops topped by a ten or better and bottoms out at 58.92% on paired flops. A8s stays ahead on all five textures. **A8s against A5s by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | A8s wins | Ties | A5s wins | A8s equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 24.526 | 56.308 | 19.340 | 24.352 | 65.978 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 6.383 | 60.113 | 5.553 | 34.334 | 62.890 | | Two-tone | 46.543 | 55.997 | 14.687 | 29.316 | 63.340 | | Monotone | 5.215 | 52.843 | 13.474 | 33.683 | 59.580 | | Paired | 17.333 | 41.018 | 35.793 | 23.189 | 58.915 | A rainbow flop shows three suits, a two-tone flop repeats one suit, a monotone flop is a single suit, and a paired flop repeats a rank. ## Compared with a random hand Relative to a random opponent, A8s changes by +1.06 points (baseline 61.94%) and A5s by -22.92 points (baseline 59.92%). **A8s and A5s 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 | 62.995 | 61.944 | +1.051 | 1.01697 | | A8s, rainbow, ten or higher | 65.978 | 61.944 | +4.034 | 1.06512 | | A8s, rainbow, nine or lower | 62.890 | 61.944 | +0.946 | 1.01527 | | A8s, two-tone | 63.340 | 61.944 | +1.396 | 1.02254 | | A8s, monotone | 59.580 | 61.944 | -2.364 | 0.96184 | | A8s, paired | 58.915 | 61.944 | -3.029 | 0.95110 | | A5s, all flops | 37.005 | 59.923 | -22.918 | 0.61754 | | A5s, rainbow, ten or higher | 34.022 | 59.923 | -25.901 | 0.56776 | | A5s, rainbow, nine or lower | 37.110 | 59.923 | -22.813 | 0.61929 | | A5s, two-tone | 36.660 | 59.923 | -23.263 | 0.61179 | | A5s, monotone | 40.420 | 59.923 | -19.503 | 0.67453 | | A5s, paired | 41.085 | 59.923 | -18.838 | 0.68563 | ## Does a shared suit matter? These two classes cannot share a suit in any legal deal, so there is only one row to read: A8s holds 63.00% in every deal of this matchup. **A8s against A5s by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | A8s wins | Ties | A5s wins | A8s equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 0 | 0.00 | not possible | not possible | not possible | not possible | | No shared suit | 12 | 100.00 | 53.575 | 18.840 | 27.585 | 62.995 | ## How often this matchup comes up Counting specific cards, A8s against A5s appears in 12 of the 1,624,350 ordered heads-up deals (0.0007%), and in 24 when the seats are swapped too (0.0015%). ## A worked example Try it with money: two players each put in $100 and the whole board runs out every possible way. A8s averages $126.00 from the $200, up $26.00; A5s averages $74.00, down $26.00. Think in thousands: about 536 of 1,000 go to A8s, about 276 go to A5s, and about 188 are chopped. ## The same matchup from the other side Swap the hands and you get A5s with 37.00% against A8s with 63.00%. We keep one page per matchup, with the better-ranked hand first. ## Keep exploring The calculator link fills in As8s against Ah5h, a deal where the two hands share no suit. Change any card to test your own hand. The neighboring matchups below swap one of the two hands for one of similar strength. - [Open As8s against Ah5h in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=As8s&p2=Ah5h) - [A8s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/a8s.md) - [A5s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/a5s.md) - [A8s vs A6s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a8s-vs-a6s.md) - [A8s vs KTo](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a8s-vs-kto.md) - [KTs vs A5s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kts-vs-a5s.md) - [All hand matchups](https://georgelipoker.com/equity.md) ## How this was computed Method: exact enumeration. The 12 specific deals are grouped by suit pattern, each is run against all 1,712,304 boards, and both seven-card hands are scored. Equity adds half of every tie, and flop textures are tallied over the ten flops inside each board. Source: our own exact count from the GeorgeLiPoker poker math library. No outside data is used. ## Related - [A8s vs A6s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a8s-vs-a6s.md) - [A8s vs KTo: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a8s-vs-kto.md) - [KTs vs A5s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kts-vs-a5s.md)