A9s
62.31%
Wins 62.08%, ties 0.47%
86s
37.69%
Wins 37.45%, ties 0.47%
A9s against 86s: the numbers
| Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A9s | 62.080 | 0.465 | 37.455 | 62.313 |
| 86s | 37.455 | 0.465 | 62.080 | 37.687 |
A9s meets 86s, and both are suited hands. With no overlap in ranks, every card that pairs one hand is a card that does not pair the other.
A9s is ahead, but 86s is far from dead: it takes 374 of every 1,000 deals outright. Ties are part of the picture: 0.47% of boards end in a split pot, and each side counts that as half a win.
Among the 169 starting hands, A9s is number 18 and 86s is number 110 by strength against a random hand.
| Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about |
|---|---|---|---|
| A9s | 17,008,000 | 127,000 | 10,261,000 |
| 86s | 10,261,000 | 127,000 | 17,008,000 |
The board total is exact, 16 deals at 1,712,304 boards each. Won, tied and lost counts are rounded to the nearest thousand from the five-decimal percentages.
| Hand | Equity as odds (to 1) | Wins one deal in | Loses one deal in | Pot odds needed to call (to 1) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A9s | 1.653 | 1.611 | 2.670 | 0.605 |
| 86s | 0.605 | 2.670 | 1.611 | 1.653 |
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
If you know the kind of flop that came, the numbers shift: A9s holds 66.11% on rainbow flops topped by a ten or better and 45.89% on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower). 86s is ahead on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower), even though it trails A9s when every flop is counted.
| Flop | Share of flops | A9s wins | Ties | 86s wins | A9s equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rainbow, ten or higher | 25.220 | 66.018 | 0.175 | 33.807 | 66.105 |
| Rainbow, nine or lower | 5.689 | 45.637 | 0.511 | 53.852 | 45.892 |
| Two-tone | 46.727 | 61.382 | 0.217 | 38.401 | 61.491 |
| Monotone | 5.273 | 57.694 | 3.392 | 38.914 | 59.390 |
| Paired | 17.091 | 65.003 | 0.653 | 34.344 | 65.330 |
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
Relative to a random opponent, A9s changes by -0.47 points (baseline 62.78%) and 86s by -8.55 points (baseline 46.24%).
| Case | Equity here | Against a random hand | Change in points | Times the random-hand equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A9s, all flops | 62.313 | 62.781 | -0.468 | 0.99255 |
| A9s, rainbow, ten or higher | 66.105 | 62.781 | +3.324 | 1.05295 |
| A9s, rainbow, nine or lower | 45.892 | 62.781 | -16.889 | 0.73099 |
| A9s, two-tone | 61.491 | 62.781 | -1.290 | 0.97945 |
| A9s, monotone | 59.390 | 62.781 | -3.391 | 0.94599 |
| A9s, paired | 65.330 | 62.781 | +2.549 | 1.04060 |
| 86s, all flops | 37.687 | 46.243 | -8.556 | 0.81498 |
| 86s, rainbow, ten or higher | 33.895 | 46.243 | -12.348 | 0.73298 |
| 86s, rainbow, nine or lower | 54.108 | 46.243 | +7.865 | 1.17008 |
| 86s, two-tone | 38.509 | 46.243 | -7.734 | 0.83275 |
| 86s, monotone | 40.610 | 46.243 | -5.633 | 0.87819 |
| 86s, paired | 34.670 | 46.243 | -11.573 | 0.74974 |
Does a shared suit matter?
When the hands share a suit, A9s holds 64.62%; when they do not, it holds 61.54%. A9s does better with a shared suit, by 3.08 points.
| Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | A9s wins | Ties | 86s wins | A9s equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Share a suit | 4 | 25.00 | 64.354 | 0.538 | 35.108 | 64.623 |
| No shared suit | 12 | 75.00 | 61.323 | 0.440 | 38.237 | 61.543 |
How often this matchup comes up
Out of 1,624,350 ways to deal two seats two cards each, 16 are A9s in one seat and 86s in the other (0.0010%); with the seats swapped too, 32 (0.0020%).
A worked example
Put $100 each into a $200 pot and deal every board once: A9s averages $124.62 back, ahead of its $100 by $24.62, while 86s averages $75.38, short of its $100 by $24.62.
Over a long run, 1,000 deals split into about 621 for A9s, 374 for 86s and 5 tied.
The same matchup from the other side
Read it from the other side: 86s against A9s is the same matchup with the numbers swapped, so 86s holds 37.69% and A9s holds 62.31%. That address sends you back to this page.
Keep exploring
Try As9s against 8h6h 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.
How this was computed
All 1,712,304 five-card boards are dealt for every suit pattern among the 16 specific deals of A9s against 86s, and both hands are scored on each. That is a full count, so the percentages are exact. Ties are half a win each, and each board appears once per flop it contains.
Source: our own exact count from the GeorgeLiPoker poker math library. No outside data is used.
Bring your own hands to a session
Review the spots you actually play against these numbers in a Game Assessment, and leave with a one-page written plan.
Book a session