--- title: "K9s vs 98s: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/k9s-vs-98s.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/k9s-vs-98s" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "K9s is a big favorite over 98s before the flop: 68.70% to 31.30% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/k9s-vs-22.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/k9s-vs-97s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a5s-vs-98s.md"] --- # K9s vs 98s: preflop equity K9s is a big favorite over 98s before the flop: 68.70% to 31.30% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. Dealt all in against each other, K9s takes 68.70% of the pot on average and 98s takes the other 31.30%. ## K9s against 98s: the numbers **Exact preflop results for K9s against 98s, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | K9s | 67.160 | 3.087 | 29.753 | 68.704 | | 98s | 29.753 | 3.087 | 67.160 | 31.296 | Both hands are suited hands: K9s and 98s. The two hands share a rank, and the one with the better other card dominates: it wins most kicker battles when that shared rank hits. K9s is the clear favorite, though 98s gets there on roughly one board in 3. 3.09% of boards are ties, so the equity of each hand is its win rate plus half of that. K9s ranks number 29 of 169 starting hands, and 98s ranks number 83, by equity against a random hand. **Boards behind the percentages: 20,547,648 counted in all** | Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | K9s | 13,800,000 | 634,000 | 6,114,000 | | 98s | 6,114,000 | 634,000 | 13,800,000 | 12 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. **K9s 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) | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | K9s | 2.195 | 1.489 | 3.361 | 0.456 | | 98s | 0.456 | 3.361 | 1.489 | 2.195 | The last column is the smallest pot odds, written as a pot-to-call ratio, at which a call breaks even with this equity. ## Who is ahead on which flops By flop texture, K9s' equity runs from 55.15% on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower) up to 73.08% on rainbow flops topped by a ten or better. K9s stays ahead on all five textures, but the swing between them is large, so how the flop looks matters a great deal. **K9s against 98s by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | K9s wins | Ties | 98s wins | K9s equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 25.254 | 71.769 | 2.614 | 25.617 | 73.076 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 5.654 | 53.349 | 3.594 | 43.057 | 55.146 | | Two-tone | 46.543 | 66.106 | 2.507 | 31.387 | 67.360 | | Monotone | 5.215 | 60.036 | 4.846 | 35.118 | 62.459 | | Paired | 17.334 | 69.924 | 4.637 | 25.439 | 72.242 | 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: 59.99% for K9s, 50.80% for 98s. Here the change is +8.71 and -19.50 points. **K9s 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 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | K9s, all flops | 68.704 | 59.988 | +8.716 | 1.14530 | | K9s, rainbow, ten or higher | 73.076 | 59.988 | +13.088 | 1.21818 | | K9s, rainbow, nine or lower | 55.146 | 59.988 | -4.842 | 0.91928 | | K9s, two-tone | 67.360 | 59.988 | +7.372 | 1.12289 | | K9s, monotone | 62.459 | 59.988 | +2.471 | 1.04119 | | K9s, paired | 72.242 | 59.988 | +12.254 | 1.20427 | | 98s, all flops | 31.296 | 50.801 | -19.505 | 0.61605 | | 98s, rainbow, ten or higher | 26.924 | 50.801 | -23.877 | 0.52999 | | 98s, rainbow, nine or lower | 44.854 | 50.801 | -5.947 | 0.88294 | | 98s, two-tone | 32.640 | 50.801 | -18.161 | 0.64251 | | 98s, monotone | 37.541 | 50.801 | -13.260 | 0.73898 | | 98s, paired | 27.758 | 50.801 | -23.043 | 0.54641 | ## Does a shared suit matter? A shared suit is impossible for this matchup, so K9s' 68.70% is the answer for every suit pattern. **K9s against 98s by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | K9s wins | Ties | 98s wins | K9s equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 0 | 0.00 | not possible | not possible | not possible | not possible | | No shared suit | 12 | 100.00 | 67.160 | 3.087 | 29.753 | 68.704 | ## How often this matchup comes up How often does it happen? 12 of the 1,624,350 ordered deals (0.0007%) are K9s against 98s, and 24 (0.0015%) if either hand may sit in either seat. ## A worked example To see what the equity is worth, imagine $100 each in a $200 pot. K9s is worth $137.40 on average (+$37.40); 98s is worth $62.60 (-$37.40). Per 1,000 deals: K9s wins about 672, 98s wins about 297, and about 31 end in a split pot. ## The same matchup from the other side Swap the hands and you get 98s with 31.30% against K9s with 68.70%. We keep one page per matchup, with the better-ranked hand first. ## Keep exploring Ks9s 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 Ks9s against 9h8h in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=Ks9s&p2=9h8h) - [K9s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/k9s.md) - [98s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/98s.md) - [K9s vs 22](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/k9s-vs-22.md) - [K9s vs 97s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/k9s-vs-97s.md) - [A5s vs 98s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a5s-vs-98s.md) - [All hand matchups](https://georgelipoker.com/equity.md) ## How this was computed Each figure is a complete count over boards. Take the 12 specific deals, group them by suit pattern, deal all 1,712,304 boards against each, and compare the two seven-card hands. Equity counts a tie as half a win; the flop rows use every one of a board's ten flops. Source: our own exact count from the GeorgeLiPoker poker math library. No outside data is used. ## Related - [K9s vs 22: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/k9s-vs-22.md) - [K9s vs 97s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/k9s-vs-97s.md) - [A5s vs 98s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a5s-vs-98s.md)