--- title: "JTs vs 98s: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/jts-vs-98s.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/jts-vs-98s" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "JTs is a big favorite over 98s before the flop: 64.70% to 35.30% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/jts-vs-22.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/jts-vs-97s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a2s-vs-98s.md"] --- # JTs vs 98s: preflop equity JTs is a big favorite over 98s before the flop: 64.70% to 35.30% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. In equity, JTs against 98s stands at 64.70% to 35.30%, a gap of 29.40 points. ## JTs against 98s: the numbers **Exact preflop results for JTs against 98s, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | JTs | 64.122 | 1.159 | 34.719 | 64.702 | | 98s | 34.719 | 1.159 | 64.122 | 35.298 | Here suited hands face each other, JTs 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. JTs is ahead, but 98s is far from dead: it takes 347 of every 1,000 deals outright. 1.16% of boards are ties, so the equity of each hand is its win rate plus half of that. Ranked by equity against a random hand, JTs is number 45 of the 169 starting hands and 98s is number 83. **Boards behind the percentages: 27,396,864 counted in all** | Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | JTs | 17,567,000 | 318,000 | 9,512,000 | | 98s | 9,512,000 | 318,000 | 17,567,000 | The total is exact: 16 specific deals times 1,712,304 boards. The three counts are approximate, worked out from the percentages to five decimals and rounded to the nearest thousand. **JTs 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) | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | JTs | 1.833 | 1.560 | 2.880 | 0.546 | | 98s | 0.546 | 2.880 | 1.560 | 1.833 | 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 If you know the kind of flop that came, the numbers shift: JTs holds 70.78% on rainbow flops topped by a ten or better and 45.02% on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower). 98s takes over on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower), so the favorite before the flop is the underdog on those boards. **JTs against 98s by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | JTs wins | Ties | 98s wins | JTs equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 24.595 | 70.474 | 0.620 | 28.906 | 70.784 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 6.314 | 44.786 | 0.466 | 54.748 | 45.019 | | Two-tone | 46.727 | 64.002 | 0.541 | 35.457 | 64.273 | | Monotone | 5.273 | 59.748 | 3.592 | 36.660 | 61.544 | | Paired | 17.091 | 63.803 | 3.127 | 33.070 | 65.367 | 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 Compared with a random opponent, this matchup shifts JTs from 57.53% by +7.17 points and 98s from 50.80% by -15.50 points. **JTs 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 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | JTs, all flops | 64.702 | 57.528 | +7.174 | 1.12470 | | JTs, rainbow, ten or higher | 70.784 | 57.528 | +13.256 | 1.23043 | | JTs, rainbow, nine or lower | 45.019 | 57.528 | -12.509 | 0.78256 | | JTs, two-tone | 64.273 | 57.528 | +6.745 | 1.11725 | | JTs, monotone | 61.544 | 57.528 | +4.016 | 1.06981 | | JTs, paired | 65.367 | 57.528 | +7.839 | 1.13626 | | 98s, all flops | 35.298 | 50.801 | -15.503 | 0.69483 | | 98s, rainbow, ten or higher | 29.216 | 50.801 | -21.585 | 0.57511 | | 98s, rainbow, nine or lower | 54.981 | 50.801 | +4.180 | 1.08228 | | 98s, two-tone | 35.727 | 50.801 | -15.074 | 0.70327 | | 98s, monotone | 38.456 | 50.801 | -12.345 | 0.75699 | | 98s, paired | 34.633 | 50.801 | -16.168 | 0.68174 | ## Does a shared suit matter? The suit split reads 67.26% for JTs with a shared suit and 63.85% without one. JTs does better with a shared suit, by 3.41 points. **JTs against 98s by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | JTs wins | Ties | 98s wins | JTs equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 4 | 25.00 | 66.627 | 1.266 | 32.107 | 67.260 | | No shared suit | 12 | 75.00 | 63.287 | 1.123 | 35.590 | 63.849 | ## How often this matchup comes up How often does it happen? 16 of the 1,624,350 ordered deals (0.0010%) are JTs against 98s, and 32 (0.0020%) if either hand may sit in either seat. ## A worked example Put $100 each into a $200 pot and deal every board once: JTs averages $129.40 back, ahead of its $100 by $29.40, while 98s averages $70.60, short of its $100 by $29.40. In 1,000 deals of exactly this matchup, expect about 641 won outright by JTs, about 347 won outright by 98s and about 12 split. ## The same matchup from the other side 98s against JTs adds nothing new: it is 35.30% for 98s and 64.70% for JTs, the same figures reversed. ## Keep exploring JsTs 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 JsTs against 9h8h in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=JsTs&p2=9h8h) - [JTs combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/jts.md) - [98s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/98s.md) - [JTs vs 22](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/jts-vs-22.md) - [JTs vs 97s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/jts-vs-97s.md) - [A2s vs 98s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a2s-vs-98s.md) - [All hand matchups](https://georgelipoker.com/equity.md) ## How this was computed The page is built from a full enumeration: 1,712,304 boards, every suit pattern of the 16 specific deals, both seven-card hands evaluated. A tie is worth half a win to each hand, and a board is tallied under each of its ten possible flops for the texture rows. Source: our own exact count from the GeorgeLiPoker poker math library. No outside data is used. ## Related - [JTs vs 22: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/jts-vs-22.md) - [JTs vs 97s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/jts-vs-97s.md) - [A2s vs 98s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a2s-vs-98s.md)