--- title: "A9s vs 87s: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a9s-vs-87s.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a9s-vs-87s" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "A9s is a big favorite over 87s before the flop: 61.37% to 38.63% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a9s-vs-86s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a9s-vs-76s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/ato-vs-87s.md"] --- # A9s vs 87s: preflop equity A9s is a big favorite over 87s before the flop: 61.37% to 38.63% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. Before any board card is dealt, A9s holds 61.37% equity against 87s, which leaves 87s with 38.63%. ## A9s against 87s: the numbers **Exact preflop results for A9s against 87s, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | A9s | 61.142 | 0.457 | 38.401 | 61.371 | | 87s | 38.401 | 0.457 | 61.142 | 38.629 | Both hands are suited hands: A9s and 87s. The two hands share no rank, which makes this a pure matchup of card strength, straight chances and flush chances. That is a modest edge, the kind that shows up over many hands and is easy to miss in one. Ties are part of the picture: 0.46% of boards end in a split pot, and each side counts that as half a win. In the ranking of all 169 starting hands, A9s is number 18 and 87s is number 100. **Boards behind the percentages: 27,396,864 counted in all** | Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | A9s | 16,751,000 | 125,000 | 10,521,000 | | 87s | 10,521,000 | 125,000 | 16,751,000 | The total is exact: 16 specific deals times 1,712,304 boards. The three counts are approximate, worked out from the percentages to five decimals and rounded to the nearest thousand. **A9s against 87s read as odds** | Hand | Equity as odds (to 1) | Wins one deal in | Loses one deal in | Pot odds needed to call (to 1) | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | A9s | 1.589 | 1.636 | 2.604 | 0.629 | | 87s | 0.629 | 2.604 | 1.636 | 1.589 | 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 By flop texture, A9s' equity runs from 47.24% on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower) up to 64.66% on paired flops. A9s is the favorite overall but falls behind on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower). **A9s against 87s by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | A9s wins | Ties | 87s wins | A9s equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 25.220 | 64.396 | 0.200 | 35.404 | 64.496 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 5.689 | 47.069 | 0.341 | 52.590 | 47.240 | | Two-tone | 46.727 | 60.410 | 0.209 | 39.381 | 60.514 | | Monotone | 5.273 | 56.891 | 3.388 | 39.721 | 58.585 | | Paired | 17.091 | 64.339 | 0.649 | 35.012 | 64.663 | 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 Each hand has a baseline against a random hand: 62.78% for A9s, 47.94% for 87s. Here the change is -1.41 and -9.31 points. **A9s and 87s 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 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | A9s, all flops | 61.371 | 62.781 | -1.410 | 0.97754 | | A9s, rainbow, ten or higher | 64.496 | 62.781 | +1.715 | 1.02732 | | A9s, rainbow, nine or lower | 47.240 | 62.781 | -15.541 | 0.75246 | | A9s, two-tone | 60.514 | 62.781 | -2.267 | 0.96389 | | A9s, monotone | 58.585 | 62.781 | -4.196 | 0.93316 | | A9s, paired | 64.663 | 62.781 | +1.882 | 1.02998 | | 87s, all flops | 38.629 | 47.936 | -9.307 | 0.80585 | | 87s, rainbow, ten or higher | 35.504 | 47.936 | -12.432 | 0.74065 | | 87s, rainbow, nine or lower | 52.760 | 47.936 | +4.824 | 1.10063 | | 87s, two-tone | 39.486 | 47.936 | -8.450 | 0.82372 | | 87s, monotone | 41.415 | 47.936 | -6.521 | 0.86396 | | 87s, paired | 35.337 | 47.936 | -12.599 | 0.73717 | ## Does a shared suit matter? The suit split reads 63.60% for A9s with a shared suit and 60.63% without one. A9s does better with a shared suit, by 2.97 points. **A9s against 87s by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | A9s wins | Ties | 87s wins | A9s equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 4 | 25.00 | 63.331 | 0.529 | 36.140 | 63.595 | | No shared suit | 12 | 75.00 | 60.413 | 0.433 | 39.154 | 60.629 | ## How often this matchup comes up A9s against 87s is made up of 16 specific-card matchups in one seat order, 0.0010% of the 1,624,350 ordered deals, and 32 counting both seat orders, 0.0020%. ## A worked example Worked example: both players commit $100, so $200 sits in the middle. Over every board, A9s' average share is $122.74 (a gain of $22.74) and 87s' is $77.26 (a loss of $22.74). Over a long run, 1,000 deals split into about 611 for A9s, 384 for 87s and 5 tied. ## The same matchup from the other side The mirror image, 87s against A9s, is 38.63% to 61.37%, and its address redirects to this page. ## Keep exploring Open the calculator with As9s against 8h7h 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 As9s against 8h7h in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=As9s&p2=8h7h) - [A9s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/a9s.md) - [87s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/87s.md) - [A9s vs 86s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a9s-vs-86s.md) - [A9s vs 76s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a9s-vs-76s.md) - [ATo vs 87s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/ato-vs-87s.md) - [All hand matchups](https://georgelipoker.com/equity.md) ## How this was computed Each figure is a complete count over boards. Take the 16 specific deals, group them by suit pattern, deal all 1,712,304 boards against each, and compare the two seven-card hands. Equity counts a tie as half a win; the flop rows use every one of a board's ten flops. Source: our own exact count from the GeorgeLiPoker poker math library. No outside data is used. ## Related - [A9s vs 86s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a9s-vs-86s.md) - [A9s vs 76s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a9s-vs-76s.md) - [ATo vs 87s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/ato-vs-87s.md)