--- title: "JJ vs 98s: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/jj-vs-98s.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/jj-vs-98s" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "JJ is a big favorite over 98s before the flop: 80.31% to 19.69% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/jj-vs-22.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/jj-vs-97s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/tt-vs-98s.md"] --- # JJ vs 98s: preflop equity JJ is a big favorite over 98s before the flop: 80.31% to 19.69% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. The exact count puts JJ at 80.31% and 98s at 19.69% when the two hands see all five board cards. ## JJ against 98s: the numbers **Exact preflop results for JJ against 98s, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | JJ | 80.112 | 0.399 | 19.489 | 80.311 | | 98s | 19.489 | 0.399 | 80.112 | 19.689 | JJ is a pocket pair and 98s is a suited hand. The pair outranks both of the other hand's cards, which is why the pair is a strong favorite. This is one of the lopsided matchups: 98s wins only 19.49% of the boards outright. Split pots make up 0.40% of the boards, and both equity figures count them as half a win each. For context, JJ sits at number 4 of 169 starting hands and 98s at number 83 when each is run against a random hand. **Boards behind the percentages: 41,095,296 counted in all** | Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | JJ | 32,922,000 | 164,000 | 8,009,000 | | 98s | 8,009,000 | 164,000 | 32,922,000 | The board total is exact, 24 deals at 1,712,304 boards each. Won, tied and lost counts are rounded to the nearest thousand from the five-decimal percentages. **JJ 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) | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | JJ | 4.079 | 1.248 | 5.131 | 0.245 | | 98s | 0.245 | 5.131 | 1.248 | 4.079 | 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 If you know the kind of flop that came, the numbers shift: JJ holds 84.19% on rainbow flops topped by a ten or better and 73.39% on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower). JJ stays ahead on all five textures. **JJ against 98s by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | JJ wins | Ties | 98s wins | JJ equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 24.595 | 84.093 | 0.191 | 15.716 | 84.189 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 6.314 | 73.050 | 0.674 | 26.276 | 73.387 | | Two-tone | 46.545 | 78.278 | 0.270 | 21.452 | 78.413 | | Monotone | 5.212 | 73.370 | 2.378 | 24.252 | 74.559 | | Paired | 17.334 | 83.989 | 0.343 | 15.668 | 84.161 | Read the flop types this way: rainbow has three suits, two-tone has two cards of one suit, monotone has three, and paired repeats a rank. ## Compared with a random hand Each hand has a baseline against a random hand: 77.47% for JJ, 50.80% for 98s. Here the change is +2.84 and -31.11 points. **JJ 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 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | JJ, all flops | 80.311 | 77.469 | +2.842 | 1.03669 | | JJ, rainbow, ten or higher | 84.189 | 77.469 | +6.720 | 1.08674 | | JJ, rainbow, nine or lower | 73.387 | 77.469 | -4.082 | 0.94731 | | JJ, two-tone | 78.413 | 77.469 | +0.944 | 1.01219 | | JJ, monotone | 74.559 | 77.469 | -2.910 | 0.96244 | | JJ, paired | 84.161 | 77.469 | +6.692 | 1.08638 | | 98s, all flops | 19.689 | 50.801 | -31.112 | 0.38757 | | 98s, rainbow, ten or higher | 15.811 | 50.801 | -34.990 | 0.31123 | | 98s, rainbow, nine or lower | 26.613 | 50.801 | -24.188 | 0.52387 | | 98s, two-tone | 21.587 | 50.801 | -29.214 | 0.42493 | | 98s, monotone | 25.441 | 50.801 | -25.360 | 0.50080 | | 98s, paired | 15.839 | 50.801 | -34.962 | 0.31179 | ## Does a shared suit matter? The suit split reads 80.87% for JJ with a shared suit and 79.75% without one. JJ does better with a shared suit, by 1.12 points. **JJ against 98s by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | JJ wins | Ties | 98s wins | JJ equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 12 | 50.00 | 80.649 | 0.440 | 18.911 | 80.869 | | No shared suit | 12 | 50.00 | 79.575 | 0.357 | 20.068 | 79.754 | ## How often this matchup comes up Counting specific cards, JJ against 98s appears in 24 of the 1,624,350 ordered heads-up deals (0.0015%), and in 48 when the seats are swapped too (0.0030%). ## A worked example Take a $200 pot built from $100 each. JJ's equity of 80.31% is worth $160.62, a $60.62 edge, and 98s' 19.69% is worth $39.38, which is $60.62 under its stake. A thousand deals look like this: JJ takes 801, 98s takes 195, 4 are ties. ## The same matchup from the other side 98s versus JJ is this same page seen from the other hand: 19.69% for 98s, 80.31% for JJ. ## Keep exploring Open the calculator with JsJh against 9d8d 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 JsJh against 9d8d in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=JsJh&p2=9d8d) - [JJ combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/jj.md) - [98s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/98s.md) - [JJ vs 22](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/jj-vs-22.md) - [JJ vs 97s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/jj-vs-97s.md) - [TT vs 98s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/tt-vs-98s.md) - [All hand matchups](https://georgelipoker.com/equity.md) ## How this was computed This is an exact count with no sampling. For the 24 ways to deal one JJ and one 98s without reusing a card, grouped by suit pattern, every one of the 1,712,304 possible boards is dealt and both seven-card hands are compared. A tie counts as half a win in the equity column, and each board is counted once under each of its ten three-card flops. Source: our own exact count from the GeorgeLiPoker poker math library. No outside data is used. ## Related - [JJ vs 22: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/jj-vs-22.md) - [JJ vs 97s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/jj-vs-97s.md) - [TT vs 98s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/tt-vs-98s.md)