--- title: "KJs vs 98s: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kjs-vs-98s.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kjs-vs-98s" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "KJs is a big favorite over 98s before the flop: 62.71% to 37.29% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kjs-vs-22.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kjs-vs-97s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a8s-vs-98s.md"] --- # KJs vs 98s: preflop equity KJs is a big favorite over 98s before the flop: 62.71% to 37.29% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. Counting every board, the equity split is 62.71% for KJs and 37.29% for 98s, so KJs leads by 25.42 points. ## KJs against 98s: the numbers **Exact preflop results for KJs against 98s, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | KJs | 62.370 | 0.685 | 36.945 | 62.712 | | 98s | 36.945 | 0.685 | 62.370 | 37.288 | Here suited hands face each other, KJs on one side and 98s on the other. Neither hand shares a rank with the other, so this is a contest of high cards, connection and suits. That is a modest edge, the kind that shows up over many hands and is easy to miss in one. Ties are 0.69% of the outcomes here; each tied board gives both hands half the pot. By strength against a random hand, KJs holds place 20 of 169 and 98s holds place 83. **Boards behind the percentages: 27,396,864 counted in all** | Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | KJs | 17,087,000 | 188,000 | 10,122,000 | | 98s | 10,122,000 | 188,000 | 17,087,000 | 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. **KJs 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) | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | KJs | 1.682 | 1.603 | 2.707 | 0.595 | | 98s | 0.595 | 2.707 | 1.603 | 1.682 | 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 Break the boards down by their first three cards and KJs is strongest on rainbow flops topped by a ten or better (68.76%) and weakest on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower) (40.70%). Watch for low rainbow flops (nine high or lower): on those flops 98s holds the better equity. **KJs against 98s by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | KJs wins | Ties | 98s wins | KJs equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 24.595 | 68.609 | 0.297 | 31.094 | 68.757 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 6.314 | 40.369 | 0.652 | 58.979 | 40.695 | | Two-tone | 46.727 | 61.908 | 0.336 | 37.756 | 62.076 | | Monotone | 5.273 | 58.161 | 3.461 | 38.378 | 59.891 | | Paired | 17.091 | 64.079 | 1.357 | 34.564 | 64.758 | 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 Against one random hand instead, KJs holds 62.57% and 98s holds 50.80%. Facing each other changes that by +0.14 points for KJs and -13.51 points for 98s. **KJs 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 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | KJs, all flops | 62.712 | 62.567 | +0.145 | 1.00232 | | KJs, rainbow, ten or higher | 68.757 | 62.567 | +6.190 | 1.09893 | | KJs, rainbow, nine or lower | 40.695 | 62.567 | -21.872 | 0.65042 | | KJs, two-tone | 62.076 | 62.567 | -0.491 | 0.99215 | | KJs, monotone | 59.891 | 62.567 | -2.676 | 0.95723 | | KJs, paired | 64.758 | 62.567 | +2.191 | 1.03502 | | 98s, all flops | 37.288 | 50.801 | -13.513 | 0.73400 | | 98s, rainbow, ten or higher | 31.243 | 50.801 | -19.558 | 0.61501 | | 98s, rainbow, nine or lower | 59.305 | 50.801 | +8.504 | 1.16740 | | 98s, two-tone | 37.924 | 50.801 | -12.877 | 0.74652 | | 98s, monotone | 40.109 | 50.801 | -10.692 | 0.78953 | | 98s, paired | 35.242 | 50.801 | -15.559 | 0.69373 | ## Does a shared suit matter? Does suit overlap move the numbers? KJs has 65.04% when the hands share a suit and 61.94% when they do not. KJs does better with a shared suit, by 3.10 points. **KJs against 98s by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | KJs wins | Ties | 98s wins | KJs equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 4 | 25.00 | 64.650 | 0.772 | 34.578 | 65.036 | | No shared suit | 12 | 75.00 | 61.609 | 0.657 | 37.734 | 61.938 | ## How often this matchup comes up Out of 1,624,350 ways to deal two seats two cards each, 16 are KJs in one seat and 98s in the other (0.0010%); with the seats swapped too, 32 (0.0020%). ## A worked example To see what the equity is worth, imagine $100 each in a $200 pot. KJs is worth $125.42 on average (+$25.42); 98s is worth $74.58 (-$25.42). Run 1,000 deals and the tally comes out near 624 for KJs, 369 for 98s and 7 ties. ## The same matchup from the other side Swap the hands and you get 98s with 37.29% against KJs with 62.71%. We keep one page per matchup, with the better-ranked hand first. ## Keep exploring KsJs 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 KsJs against 9h8h in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=KsJs&p2=9h8h) - [KJs combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/kjs.md) - [98s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/98s.md) - [KJs vs 22](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kjs-vs-22.md) - [KJs vs 97s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kjs-vs-97s.md) - [A8s vs 98s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a8s-vs-98s.md) - [All hand matchups](https://georgelipoker.com/equity.md) ## How this was computed Method: exact enumeration. The 16 specific deals are grouped by suit pattern, each is run against all 1,712,304 boards, and both seven-card hands are scored. Equity adds half of every tie, and flop textures are tallied over the ten flops inside each board. Source: our own exact count from the GeorgeLiPoker poker math library. No outside data is used. ## Related - [KJs vs 22: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kjs-vs-22.md) - [KJs vs 97s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/kjs-vs-97s.md) - [A8s vs 98s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a8s-vs-98s.md)