--- title: "QJs vs 98s: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/qjs-vs-98s.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/qjs-vs-98s" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "QJs is a big favorite over 98s before the flop: 63.43% to 36.57% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/qjs-vs-22.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/qjs-vs-97s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/k9s-vs-98s.md"] --- # QJs vs 98s: preflop equity QJs is a big favorite over 98s before the flop: 63.43% to 36.57% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. In equity, QJs against 98s stands at 63.43% to 36.57%, a gap of 26.86 points. ## QJs against 98s: the numbers **Exact preflop results for QJs against 98s, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | QJs | 62.974 | 0.912 | 36.114 | 63.430 | | 98s | 36.114 | 0.912 | 62.974 | 36.570 | Two suited hands meet here: QJs against 98s. With no overlap in ranks, every card that pairs one hand is a card that does not pair the other. That is a modest edge, the kind that shows up over many hands and is easy to miss in one. About 0.91% of boards chop the pot, which is why equity sits slightly above the win figure for both hands. The hand ranking puts QJs at 28 and 98s at 83 out of 169 starting hands. **Boards behind the percentages: 27,396,864 counted in all** | Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | QJs | 17,253,000 | 250,000 | 9,894,000 | | 98s | 9,894,000 | 250,000 | 17,253,000 | 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. **QJs 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) | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | QJs | 1.734 | 1.588 | 2.769 | 0.577 | | 98s | 0.577 | 2.769 | 1.588 | 1.734 | 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 The flop changes the picture. QJs does best on rainbow flops topped by a ten or better, at 69.64%, and worst on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower), at 41.72%. The overall edge for QJs hides low rainbow flops (nine high or lower), where 98s comes out in front. **QJs against 98s by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | QJs wins | Ties | 98s wins | QJs equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 24.595 | 69.424 | 0.437 | 30.139 | 69.642 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 6.314 | 41.404 | 0.639 | 57.957 | 41.724 | | Two-tone | 46.727 | 62.673 | 0.437 | 36.890 | 62.892 | | Monotone | 5.273 | 58.770 | 3.525 | 37.705 | 60.533 | | Paired | 17.091 | 63.780 | 2.188 | 34.032 | 64.874 | Rainbow flops have three suits, two-tone flops repeat one suit, monotone flops are all one suit, and paired flops repeat a rank. ## Compared with a random hand Compared with a random opponent, this matchup shifts QJs from 60.26% by +3.17 points and 98s from 50.80% by -14.23 points. **QJs 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 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | QJs, all flops | 63.430 | 60.259 | +3.171 | 1.05262 | | QJs, rainbow, ten or higher | 69.642 | 60.259 | +9.383 | 1.15571 | | QJs, rainbow, nine or lower | 41.724 | 60.259 | -18.535 | 0.69241 | | QJs, two-tone | 62.892 | 60.259 | +2.633 | 1.04369 | | QJs, monotone | 60.533 | 60.259 | +0.274 | 1.00455 | | QJs, paired | 64.874 | 60.259 | +4.615 | 1.07659 | | 98s, all flops | 36.570 | 50.801 | -14.231 | 0.71987 | | 98s, rainbow, ten or higher | 30.358 | 50.801 | -20.443 | 0.59759 | | 98s, rainbow, nine or lower | 58.276 | 50.801 | +7.475 | 1.14714 | | 98s, two-tone | 37.108 | 50.801 | -13.693 | 0.73046 | | 98s, monotone | 39.467 | 50.801 | -11.334 | 0.77689 | | 98s, paired | 35.126 | 50.801 | -15.675 | 0.69144 | ## Does a shared suit matter? When the hands share a suit, QJs holds 65.83%; when they do not, it holds 62.63%. QJs does better with a shared suit, by 3.20 points. **QJs against 98s by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | QJs wins | Ties | 98s wins | QJs equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 4 | 25.00 | 65.323 | 1.009 | 33.668 | 65.827 | | No shared suit | 12 | 75.00 | 62.191 | 0.879 | 36.930 | 62.631 | ## How often this matchup comes up Exactly 16 specific deals fit this matchup in one seat order, which is 0.0010% of 1,624,350; both orders together give 32, or 0.0020%. ## A worked example To see what the equity is worth, imagine $100 each in a $200 pot. QJs is worth $126.86 on average (+$26.86); 98s is worth $73.14 (-$26.86). A thousand deals look like this: QJs takes 630, 98s takes 361, 9 are ties. ## The same matchup from the other side Swap the hands and you get 98s with 36.57% against QJs with 63.43%. We keep one page per matchup, with the better-ranked hand first. ## Keep exploring The calculator link fills in QsJs against 9h8h, a deal where the two hands share no suit. Change any card to test your own hand. The neighboring matchups below swap one of the two hands for one of similar strength. - [Open QsJs against 9h8h in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=QsJs&p2=9h8h) - [QJs combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/qjs.md) - [98s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/98s.md) - [QJs vs 22](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/qjs-vs-22.md) - [QJs vs 97s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/qjs-vs-97s.md) - [K9s vs 98s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/k9s-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 - [QJs vs 22: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/qjs-vs-22.md) - [QJs vs 97s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/qjs-vs-97s.md) - [K9s vs 98s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/k9s-vs-98s.md)