--- title: "AQs vs 97s: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/aqs-vs-97s.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/aqs-vs-97s" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "AQs is a big favorite over 97s before the flop: 62.90% to 37.10% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/aqs-vs-87s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/aqs-vs-86s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/ajs-vs-97s.md"] --- # AQs vs 97s: preflop equity AQs is a big favorite over 97s before the flop: 62.90% to 37.10% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. Averaged over every possible board, AQs is ahead of 97s by 25.80 points of equity, 62.90% to 37.10%. ## AQs against 97s: the numbers **Exact preflop results for AQs against 97s, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | AQs | 62.665 | 0.473 | 36.862 | 62.902 | | 97s | 36.862 | 0.473 | 62.665 | 37.098 | Two suited hands meet here: AQs against 97s. With no overlap in ranks, every card that pairs one hand is a card that does not pair the other. AQs is ahead, but 97s is far from dead: it takes 368 of every 1,000 deals outright. Split pots make up 0.47% of the boards, and both equity figures count them as half a win each. Among the 169 starting hands, AQs is number 10 and 97s is number 94 by strength against a random hand. **Boards behind the percentages: 27,396,864 counted in all** | Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | AQs | 17,168,000 | 130,000 | 10,099,000 | | 97s | 10,099,000 | 130,000 | 17,168,000 | Exact total: 16 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. **AQs against 97s read as odds** | Hand | Equity as odds (to 1) | Wins one deal in | Loses one deal in | Pot odds needed to call (to 1) | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | AQs | 1.696 | 1.596 | 2.713 | 0.590 | | 97s | 0.590 | 2.713 | 1.596 | 1.696 | In the last column, a pot-to-call ratio at or above the figure makes a call break even or better at this equity. ## Who is ahead on which flops Rainbow flops topped by a ten or better are the best for AQs (69.25%); low rainbow flops (nine high or lower) are the worst (39.63%). Watch for low rainbow flops (nine high or lower): on those flops 97s holds the better equity. **AQs against 97s by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | AQs wins | Ties | 97s wins | AQs equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 24.595 | 69.164 | 0.162 | 30.674 | 69.245 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 6.314 | 39.327 | 0.604 | 60.069 | 39.629 | | Two-tone | 46.727 | 62.155 | 0.230 | 37.615 | 62.270 | | Monotone | 5.273 | 58.425 | 3.399 | 38.176 | 60.124 | | Paired | 17.091 | 64.639 | 0.633 | 34.728 | 64.956 | 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: 66.21% for AQs, 49.12% for 97s. Here the change is -3.31 and -12.02 points. **AQs and 97s 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 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | AQs, all flops | 62.902 | 66.209 | -3.307 | 0.95005 | | AQs, rainbow, ten or higher | 69.245 | 66.209 | +3.036 | 1.04585 | | AQs, rainbow, nine or lower | 39.629 | 66.209 | -26.580 | 0.59854 | | AQs, two-tone | 62.270 | 66.209 | -3.939 | 0.94051 | | AQs, monotone | 60.124 | 66.209 | -6.085 | 0.90809 | | AQs, paired | 64.956 | 66.209 | -1.253 | 0.98108 | | 97s, all flops | 37.098 | 49.118 | -12.020 | 0.75528 | | 97s, rainbow, ten or higher | 30.755 | 49.118 | -18.363 | 0.62615 | | 97s, rainbow, nine or lower | 60.371 | 49.118 | +11.253 | 1.22910 | | 97s, two-tone | 37.730 | 49.118 | -11.388 | 0.76815 | | 97s, monotone | 39.876 | 49.118 | -9.242 | 0.81184 | | 97s, paired | 35.044 | 49.118 | -14.074 | 0.71347 | ## Does a shared suit matter? Of the deals of this matchup, 4 share a suit (AQs at 65.20%) and 12 do not (62.14%). AQs does better with a shared suit, by 3.06 points. **AQs against 97s by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | AQs wins | Ties | 97s wins | AQs equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 4 | 25.00 | 64.927 | 0.550 | 34.523 | 65.202 | | No shared suit | 12 | 75.00 | 61.911 | 0.447 | 37.642 | 62.135 | ## How often this matchup comes up The class pair covers 16 combinations of specific cards in a fixed seat order, 0.0010% of 1,624,350, and 32 (0.0020%) in either order. ## A worked example A $100 all-in from each player makes a $200 pot, and the exact equity says AQs gets $125.80 of it on average and 97s gets $74.20. Per 1,000 deals: AQs wins about 627, 97s wins about 368, and about 5 end in a split pot. ## The same matchup from the other side One page covers both views. From 97s' side the equity is 37.10%, and from AQs' side it is 62.90%. ## Keep exploring Try AsQs against 9h7h 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. - [Open AsQs against 9h7h in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=AsQs&p2=9h7h) - [AQs combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/aqs.md) - [97s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/97s.md) - [AQs vs 87s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/aqs-vs-87s.md) - [AQs vs 86s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/aqs-vs-86s.md) - [AJs vs 97s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/ajs-vs-97s.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 AQs against 97s, 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 - [AQs vs 87s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/aqs-vs-87s.md) - [AQs vs 86s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/aqs-vs-86s.md) - [AJs vs 97s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/ajs-vs-97s.md)