AJs
61.74%
Wins 61.50%, ties 0.47%
98s
38.26%
Wins 38.03%, ties 0.47%
AJs against 98s: the numbers
| Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AJs | 61.503 | 0.470 | 38.027 | 61.738 |
| 98s | 38.027 | 0.470 | 61.503 | 38.262 |
Here suited hands face each other, AJs on one side and 98s on the other. With no overlap in ranks, every card that pairs one hand is a card that does not pair the other.
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: 0.47% of boards end in a split pot, and each side counts that as half a win.
The hand ranking puts AJs at 11 and 98s at 83 out of 169 starting hands.
| Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about |
|---|---|---|---|
| AJs | 16,850,000 | 129,000 | 10,418,000 |
| 98s | 10,418,000 | 129,000 | 16,850,000 |
16 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.
| Hand | Equity as odds (to 1) | Wins one deal in | Loses one deal in | Pot odds needed to call (to 1) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AJs | 1.614 | 1.626 | 2.630 | 0.620 |
| 98s | 0.620 | 2.630 | 1.626 | 1.614 |
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, AJs' equity runs from 40.84% on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower) up to 67.21% on rainbow flops topped by a ten or better. Watch for low rainbow flops (nine high or lower): on those flops 98s holds the better equity.
| Flop | Share of flops | AJs wins | Ties | 98s wins | AJs equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rainbow, ten or higher | 24.595 | 67.131 | 0.153 | 32.716 | 67.207 |
| Rainbow, nine or lower | 6.314 | 40.527 | 0.623 | 58.850 | 40.839 |
| Two-tone | 46.727 | 60.881 | 0.227 | 38.892 | 60.995 |
| Monotone | 5.273 | 57.334 | 3.396 | 39.270 | 59.032 |
| Paired | 17.091 | 64.137 | 0.632 | 35.231 | 64.453 |
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
Against one random hand instead, AJs holds 65.39% and 98s holds 50.80%. Facing each other changes that by -3.65 points for AJs and -12.54 points for 98s.
| Case | Equity here | Against a random hand | Change in points | Times the random-hand equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AJs, all flops | 61.738 | 65.393 | -3.655 | 0.94411 |
| AJs, rainbow, ten or higher | 67.207 | 65.393 | +1.814 | 1.02774 |
| AJs, rainbow, nine or lower | 40.839 | 65.393 | -24.554 | 0.62452 |
| AJs, two-tone | 60.995 | 65.393 | -4.398 | 0.93275 |
| AJs, monotone | 59.032 | 65.393 | -6.361 | 0.90273 |
| AJs, paired | 64.453 | 65.393 | -0.940 | 0.98563 |
| 98s, all flops | 38.262 | 50.801 | -12.539 | 0.75317 |
| 98s, rainbow, ten or higher | 32.793 | 50.801 | -18.008 | 0.64552 |
| 98s, rainbow, nine or lower | 59.161 | 50.801 | +8.360 | 1.16456 |
| 98s, two-tone | 39.005 | 50.801 | -11.796 | 0.76780 |
| 98s, monotone | 40.968 | 50.801 | -9.833 | 0.80644 |
| 98s, paired | 35.547 | 50.801 | -15.254 | 0.69973 |
Does a shared suit matter?
Split by suits, the deals give AJs 63.97% when the hands overlap in a suit and 61.00% when they do not. AJs does better with a shared suit, by 2.97 points.
| Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | AJs wins | Ties | 98s wins | AJs equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Share a suit | 4 | 25.00 | 63.693 | 0.545 | 35.762 | 63.966 |
| No shared suit | 12 | 75.00 | 60.772 | 0.445 | 38.783 | 60.995 |
How often this matchup comes up
Counting specific cards, AJs against 98s appears in 16 of the 1,624,350 ordered heads-up deals (0.0010%), and in 32 when the seats are swapped too (0.0020%).
A worked example
Try it with money: two players each put in $100 and the whole board runs out every possible way. AJs averages $123.48 from the $200, up $23.48; 98s averages $76.52, down $23.48.
Run 1,000 deals and the tally comes out near 615 for AJs, 380 for 98s and 5 ties.
The same matchup from the other side
One page covers both views. From 98s' side the equity is 38.26%, and from AJs' side it is 61.74%.
Keep exploring
AsJs 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.
How this was computed
All 1,712,304 five-card boards are dealt for every suit pattern among the 16 specific deals of AJs against 98s, 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.
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