--- title: "QQ vs 88: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/qq-vs-88.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/qq-vs-88" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "QQ is a big favorite over 88 before the flop: 80.87% to 19.13% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/qq-vs-aks.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/qq-vs-77.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/jj-vs-88.md"] --- # QQ vs 88: preflop equity QQ is a big favorite over 88 before the flop: 80.87% to 19.13% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. The exact count puts QQ at 80.87% and 88 at 19.13% when the two hands see all five board cards. ## QQ against 88: the numbers **Exact preflop results for QQ against 88, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | QQ | 80.679 | 0.382 | 18.939 | 80.870 | | 88 | 18.939 | 0.382 | 80.679 | 19.130 | Both hands are pocket pairs: QQ and 88. A pair against a smaller pair is the classic crush: the smaller pair needs one of its two remaining cards to make a set. QQ is a big favorite here before anyone sees a flop. Split pots make up 0.38% of the boards, and both equity figures count them as half a win each. By strength against a random hand, QQ holds place 3 of 169 and 88 holds place 7. **Boards behind the percentages: 61,642,944 counted in all** | Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | QQ | 49,733,000 | 235,000 | 11,675,000 | | 88 | 11,675,000 | 235,000 | 49,733,000 | The total is exact: 36 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. **QQ against 88 read as odds** | Hand | Equity as odds (to 1) | Wins one deal in | Loses one deal in | Pot odds needed to call (to 1) | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | QQ | 4.227 | 1.239 | 5.280 | 0.237 | | 88 | 0.237 | 5.280 | 1.239 | 4.227 | 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 Across the five flop textures QQ's equity moves by 18.44 points, from 67.96% on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower) to 86.40% on paired flops. QQ stays ahead on all five textures, but the swing between them is large, so how the flop looks matters a great deal. **QQ against 88 by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | QQ wins | Ties | 88 wins | QQ equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 24.595 | 83.403 | 0.196 | 16.401 | 83.501 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 6.314 | 67.498 | 0.924 | 31.578 | 67.960 | | Two-tone | 46.363 | 79.594 | 0.331 | 20.075 | 79.760 | | Monotone | 5.152 | 74.400 | 1.718 | 23.882 | 75.259 | | Paired | 17.576 | 86.304 | 0.193 | 13.503 | 86.401 | 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 A random hand would give QQ 79.93% and 88 69.16%. Against each other the change is +0.94 points for QQ and -50.03 for 88. **QQ and 88 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 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | QQ, all flops | 80.870 | 79.925 | +0.945 | 1.01182 | | QQ, rainbow, ten or higher | 83.501 | 79.925 | +3.576 | 1.04474 | | QQ, rainbow, nine or lower | 67.960 | 79.925 | -11.965 | 0.85030 | | QQ, two-tone | 79.760 | 79.925 | -0.165 | 0.99794 | | QQ, monotone | 75.259 | 79.925 | -4.666 | 0.94162 | | QQ, paired | 86.401 | 79.925 | +6.476 | 1.08103 | | 88, all flops | 19.130 | 69.163 | -50.033 | 0.27659 | | 88, rainbow, ten or higher | 16.499 | 69.163 | -52.664 | 0.23855 | | 88, rainbow, nine or lower | 32.040 | 69.163 | -37.123 | 0.46325 | | 88, two-tone | 20.240 | 69.163 | -48.923 | 0.29264 | | 88, monotone | 24.741 | 69.163 | -44.422 | 0.35772 | | 88, paired | 13.599 | 69.163 | -55.564 | 0.19662 | ## Does a shared suit matter? Suit overlap shows up in the numbers. With a suit in common QQ has 81.00% equity, and with none in common it has 80.20%. QQ does better with a shared suit, by 0.80 points. **QQ against 88 by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | QQ wins | Ties | 88 wins | QQ equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 30 | 83.33 | 80.804 | 0.399 | 18.797 | 81.004 | | No shared suit | 6 | 16.67 | 80.052 | 0.302 | 19.646 | 80.203 | ## How often this matchup comes up Exactly 36 specific deals fit this matchup in one seat order, which is 0.0022% of 1,624,350; both orders together give 72, or 0.0044%. ## A worked example Take a $200 pot built from $100 each. QQ's equity of 80.87% is worth $161.74, a $61.74 edge, and 88's 19.13% is worth $38.26, which is $61.74 under its stake. Per 1,000 deals: QQ wins about 807, 88 wins about 189, and about 4 end in a split pot. ## The same matchup from the other side 88 versus QQ is this same page seen from the other hand: 19.13% for 88, 80.87% for QQ. ## Keep exploring Try QsQh against 8d8c in the calculator: the hands share no suit, and every card can be changed. The links after it are the closest matchups in the ranking. - [Open QsQh against 8d8c in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=QsQh&p2=8d8c) - [QQ combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/qq.md) - [88 combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/88.md) - [QQ vs AKs](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/qq-vs-aks.md) - [QQ vs 77](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/qq-vs-77.md) - [JJ vs 88](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/jj-vs-88.md) - [All hand matchups](https://georgelipoker.com/equity.md) ## How this was computed This is an exact count with no sampling. For the 36 ways to deal one QQ and one 88 without reusing a card, grouped by suit pattern, every one of the 1,712,304 possible boards is dealt and both seven-card hands are compared. A tie counts as half a win in the equity column, and each board is counted once under each of its ten three-card flops. Source: our own exact count from the GeorgeLiPoker poker math library. No outside data is used. ## Related - [QQ vs AKs: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/qq-vs-aks.md) - [QQ vs 77: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/qq-vs-77.md) - [JJ vs 88: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/jj-vs-88.md)