--- title: "Q9s vs T8s: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/q9s-vs-t8s.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/q9s-vs-t8s" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "Q9s is a big favorite over T8s before the flop: 61.55% to 38.45% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/q9s-vs-t9o.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/q9s-vs-98s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/jts-vs-t8s.md"] --- # Q9s vs T8s: preflop equity Q9s is a big favorite over T8s before the flop: 61.55% to 38.45% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. Before any board card is dealt, Q9s holds 61.55% equity against T8s, which leaves T8s with 38.45%. ## Q9s against T8s: the numbers **Exact preflop results for Q9s against T8s, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Q9s | 61.085 | 0.925 | 37.990 | 61.548 | | T8s | 37.990 | 0.925 | 61.085 | 38.452 | The matchup is suited hands on both sides, Q9s against T8s. With no overlap in ranks, every card that pairs one hand is a card that does not pair the other. A 23.10 point lead is real, and T8s still takes about 380 of every 1,000 deals outright. The tie share is 0.93%: on those boards the pot is chopped and neither hand wins outright. In the ranking of all 169 starting hands, Q9s is number 43 and T8s is number 73. **Boards behind the percentages: 27,396,864 counted in all** | Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Q9s | 16,735,000 | 253,000 | 10,408,000 | | T8s | 10,408,000 | 253,000 | 16,735,000 | 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. **Q9s against T8s read as odds** | Hand | Equity as odds (to 1) | Wins one deal in | Loses one deal in | Pot odds needed to call (to 1) | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Q9s | 1.601 | 1.637 | 2.632 | 0.625 | | T8s | 0.625 | 2.632 | 1.637 | 1.601 | The final column gives the least the pot must offer for each unit called for a call to break even at this equity. ## Who is ahead on which flops Q9s prefers paired flops, where it holds 64.27%, and likes monotone flops least, where it holds 58.50%. Q9s stays ahead on all five textures. **Q9s against T8s by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | Q9s wins | Ties | T8s wins | Q9s equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 24.543 | 62.194 | 0.472 | 37.334 | 62.430 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 6.366 | 58.870 | 0.510 | 40.620 | 59.125 | | Two-tone | 46.727 | 60.545 | 0.438 | 39.017 | 60.764 | | Monotone | 5.273 | 56.736 | 3.525 | 39.739 | 58.498 | | Paired | 17.091 | 63.137 | 2.258 | 34.605 | 64.266 | 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 Start from the random-hand figures, 57.66% for Q9s and 52.33% for T8s. This opponent changes them by +3.89 and -13.88 points. **Q9s and T8s 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 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Q9s, all flops | 61.548 | 57.664 | +3.884 | 1.06736 | | Q9s, rainbow, ten or higher | 62.430 | 57.664 | +4.766 | 1.08265 | | Q9s, rainbow, nine or lower | 59.125 | 57.664 | +1.461 | 1.02534 | | Q9s, two-tone | 60.764 | 57.664 | +3.100 | 1.05376 | | Q9s, monotone | 58.498 | 57.664 | +0.834 | 1.01446 | | Q9s, paired | 64.266 | 57.664 | +6.602 | 1.11449 | | T8s, all flops | 38.452 | 52.334 | -13.882 | 0.73474 | | T8s, rainbow, ten or higher | 37.570 | 52.334 | -14.764 | 0.71789 | | T8s, rainbow, nine or lower | 40.875 | 52.334 | -11.459 | 0.78104 | | T8s, two-tone | 39.236 | 52.334 | -13.098 | 0.74972 | | T8s, monotone | 41.502 | 52.334 | -10.832 | 0.79302 | | T8s, paired | 35.734 | 52.334 | -16.600 | 0.68281 | ## Does a shared suit matter? When the hands share a suit, Q9s holds 63.87%; when they do not, it holds 60.77%. Q9s does better with a shared suit, by 3.10 points. **Q9s against T8s by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | Q9s wins | Ties | T8s wins | Q9s equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 4 | 25.00 | 63.361 | 1.021 | 35.618 | 63.872 | | No shared suit | 12 | 75.00 | 60.327 | 0.893 | 38.780 | 60.773 | ## 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 Q9s gets $123.10 of it on average and T8s gets $76.90. In 1,000 deals of exactly this matchup, expect about 611 won outright by Q9s, about 380 won outright by T8s and about 9 split. ## The same matchup from the other side T8s versus Q9s is this same page seen from the other hand: 38.45% for T8s, 61.55% for Q9s. ## Keep exploring Open the calculator with Qs9s against Th8h 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 Qs9s against Th8h in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=Qs9s&p2=Th8h) - [Q9s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/q9s.md) - [T8s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/t8s.md) - [Q9s vs T9o](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/q9s-vs-t9o.md) - [Q9s vs 98s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/q9s-vs-98s.md) - [JTs vs T8s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/jts-vs-t8s.md) - [All hand matchups](https://georgelipoker.com/equity.md) ## How this was computed Nothing here is simulated. The 16 deals of Q9s against T8s fall into a few suit patterns, each dealt against all 1,712,304 boards, with both best five-card hands compared on every board. Ties give each hand half a win, and the flop rows count a board under each of its ten flops. Source: our own exact count from the GeorgeLiPoker poker math library. No outside data is used. ## Related - [Q9s vs T9o: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/q9s-vs-t9o.md) - [Q9s vs 98s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/q9s-vs-98s.md) - [JTs vs T8s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/jts-vs-t8s.md)