AA
80.46%
Wins 80.29%, ties 0.34%
88
19.54%
Wins 19.37%, ties 0.34%
AA against 88: the numbers
| Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AA | 80.294 | 0.336 | 19.370 | 80.462 |
| 88 | 19.370 | 0.336 | 80.294 | 19.538 |
Both hands are pocket pairs: AA and 88. Two pairs against each other is a one-way street: the lower pair needs one of its two remaining cards.
A gap this wide means 88 is in trouble before the flop and has few good runouts. Split pots make up 0.34% of the boards, and both equity figures count them as half a win each.
Ranked by equity against a random hand, AA is number 1 of the 169 starting hands and 88 is number 7.
| Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA | 49,496,000 | 207,000 | 11,940,000 |
| 88 | 11,940,000 | 207,000 | 49,496,000 |
Exact total: 36 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.
| Hand | Equity as odds (to 1) | Wins one deal in | Loses one deal in | Pot odds needed to call (to 1) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AA | 4.118 | 1.245 | 5.163 | 0.243 |
| 88 | 0.243 | 5.163 | 1.245 | 4.118 |
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, AA's equity runs from 68.08% on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower) up to 86.34% on paired flops. AA stays ahead on all five textures, but the swing between them is large, so how the flop looks matters a great deal.
| Flop | Share of flops | AA wins | Ties | 88 wins | AA equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rainbow, ten or higher | 24.595 | 82.746 | 0.187 | 17.067 | 82.840 |
| Rainbow, nine or lower | 6.314 | 67.640 | 0.870 | 31.490 | 68.075 |
| Two-tone | 46.363 | 79.119 | 0.314 | 20.567 | 79.276 |
| Monotone | 5.152 | 74.041 | 1.708 | 24.251 | 74.895 |
| Paired | 17.576 | 86.339 | 0.007 | 13.654 | 86.343 |
Rainbow flops have three suits, two-tone flops repeat one suit, monotone flops are all one suit, and paired flops repeat a rank.
Compared with a random hand
Relative to a random opponent, AA changes by -4.74 points (baseline 85.20%) and 88 by -49.62 points (baseline 69.16%).
| Case | Equity here | Against a random hand | Change in points | Times the random-hand equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AA, all flops | 80.462 | 85.204 | -4.742 | 0.94435 |
| AA, rainbow, ten or higher | 82.840 | 85.204 | -2.364 | 0.97225 |
| AA, rainbow, nine or lower | 68.075 | 85.204 | -17.129 | 0.79896 |
| AA, two-tone | 79.276 | 85.204 | -5.928 | 0.93043 |
| AA, monotone | 74.895 | 85.204 | -10.309 | 0.87901 |
| AA, paired | 86.343 | 85.204 | +1.139 | 1.01337 |
| 88, all flops | 19.538 | 69.163 | -49.625 | 0.28249 |
| 88, rainbow, ten or higher | 17.160 | 69.163 | -52.003 | 0.24811 |
| 88, rainbow, nine or lower | 31.925 | 69.163 | -37.238 | 0.46159 |
| 88, two-tone | 20.724 | 69.163 | -48.439 | 0.29964 |
| 88, monotone | 25.105 | 69.163 | -44.058 | 0.36298 |
| 88, paired | 13.657 | 69.163 | -55.506 | 0.19746 |
Does a shared suit matter?
The suit split reads 80.59% for AA with a shared suit and 79.80% without one. AA does better with a shared suit, by 0.79 points.
| Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | AA wins | Ties | 88 wins | AA equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Share a suit | 30 | 83.33 | 80.417 | 0.352 | 19.231 | 80.593 |
| No shared suit | 6 | 16.67 | 79.676 | 0.255 | 20.069 | 79.803 |
How often this matchup comes up
Out of 1,624,350 ways to deal two seats two cards each, 36 are AA in one seat and 88 in the other (0.0022%); with the seats swapped too, 72 (0.0044%).
A worked example
To see what the equity is worth, imagine $100 each in a $200 pot. AA is worth $160.92 on average (+$60.92); 88 is worth $39.08 (-$60.92).
Run 1,000 deals and the tally comes out near 803 for AA, 194 for 88 and 3 ties.
The same matchup from the other side
88 versus AA is this same page seen from the other hand: 19.54% for 88, 80.46% for AA.
Keep exploring
The calculator link fills in AsAh against 8d8c, 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.
How this was computed
We counted every case. Each suit pattern of the 36 specific AA against 88 deals meets all 1,712,304 boards, and the better five-card hand wins; a split pot is half a win each. The flop table reads each board under all ten of its three-card flops.
Source: our own exact count from the GeorgeLiPoker poker math library. No outside data is used.
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