--- title: "AJs vs 98s: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/ajs-vs-98s.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/ajs-vs-98s" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "AJs is a big favorite over 98s before the flop: 61.74% to 38.26% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/ajs-vs-22.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/ajs-vs-97s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/ako-vs-98s.md"] --- # AJs vs 98s: preflop equity AJs is a big favorite over 98s before the flop: 61.74% to 38.26% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. If AJs and 98s get all the chips in before the flop, AJs owns 61.74% of the pot in the long run and 98s owns 38.26%. ## AJs against 98s: the numbers **Exact preflop results for AJs against 98s, in percent** | 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. **Boards behind the percentages: 27,396,864 counted in all** | 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. **AJs against 98s read as odds** | 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. **AJs against 98s by flop texture, in percent** | 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. **AJs and 98s 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 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 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. **AJs against 98s by suit overlap, in percent** | 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. - [Open AsJs against 9h8h in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=AsJs&p2=9h8h) - [AJs combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/ajs.md) - [98s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/98s.md) - [AJs vs 22](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/ajs-vs-22.md) - [AJs vs 97s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/ajs-vs-97s.md) - [AKo vs 98s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/ako-vs-98s.md) - [All hand matchups](https://georgelipoker.com/equity.md) ## 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. ## Related - [AJs vs 22: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/ajs-vs-22.md) - [AJs vs 97s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/ajs-vs-97s.md) - [AKo vs 98s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/ako-vs-98s.md)