--- title: "QTo vs 98s: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/qto-vs-98s.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/qto-vs-98s" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "QTo is a big favorite over 98s before the flop: 61.20% to 38.81% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/qto-vs-22.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/qto-vs-97s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/44-vs-98s.md"] --- # QTo vs 98s: preflop equity QTo is a big favorite over 98s before the flop: 61.20% to 38.81% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit. Over all 1,712,304 boards that can follow this deal, QTo finishes with 61.20% of the pot and 98s with 38.80%. ## QTo against 98s: the numbers **Exact preflop results for QTo against 98s, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | QTo | 60.755 | 0.880 | 38.365 | 61.195 | | 98s | 38.365 | 0.880 | 60.755 | 38.805 | We compare an offsuit hand with a suited hand. The two hands share no rank, which makes this a pure matchup of card strength, straight chances and flush chances. A 22.40 point lead is real, and 98s still takes about 384 of every 1,000 deals outright. The tie share is 0.88%: on those boards the pot is chopped and neither hand wins outright. By strength against a random hand, QTo holds place 47 of 169 and 98s holds place 83. **Boards behind the percentages: 82,190,592 counted in all** | Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | QTo | 49,935,000 | 723,000 | 31,532,000 | | 98s | 31,532,000 | 723,000 | 49,935,000 | The total is exact: 48 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. **QTo 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) | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | QTo | 1.577 | 1.646 | 2.607 | 0.634 | | 98s | 0.634 | 2.607 | 1.646 | 1.577 | 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 QTo is strongest on rainbow flops topped by a ten or better (68.36%) and weakest on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower) (39.99%). Watch for low rainbow flops (nine high or lower): on those flops 98s holds the better equity. **QTo against 98s by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | QTo wins | Ties | 98s wins | QTo equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 24.717 | 68.125 | 0.471 | 31.404 | 68.361 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 6.313 | 39.720 | 0.530 | 59.750 | 39.985 | | Two-tone | 46.667 | 59.582 | 0.453 | 39.965 | 59.809 | | Monotone | 5.212 | 58.132 | 2.520 | 39.348 | 59.392 | | Paired | 17.091 | 61.866 | 2.270 | 35.864 | 63.001 | A rainbow flop shows three suits, a two-tone flop repeats one suit, a monotone flop is a single suit, and a paired flop repeats a rank. ## Compared with a random hand Relative to a random opponent, QTo changes by +3.91 points (baseline 57.29%) and 98s by -12.00 points (baseline 50.80%). **QTo 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 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | QTo, all flops | 61.195 | 57.291 | +3.904 | 1.06814 | | QTo, rainbow, ten or higher | 68.361 | 57.291 | +11.070 | 1.19322 | | QTo, rainbow, nine or lower | 39.985 | 57.291 | -17.306 | 0.69793 | | QTo, two-tone | 59.809 | 57.291 | +2.518 | 1.04395 | | QTo, monotone | 59.392 | 57.291 | +2.101 | 1.03667 | | QTo, paired | 63.001 | 57.291 | +5.710 | 1.09967 | | 98s, all flops | 38.805 | 50.801 | -11.996 | 0.76386 | | 98s, rainbow, ten or higher | 31.639 | 50.801 | -19.162 | 0.62280 | | 98s, rainbow, nine or lower | 60.015 | 50.801 | +9.214 | 1.18137 | | 98s, two-tone | 40.191 | 50.801 | -10.610 | 0.79115 | | 98s, monotone | 40.608 | 50.801 | -10.193 | 0.79935 | | 98s, paired | 36.999 | 50.801 | -13.802 | 0.72831 | ## Does a shared suit matter? Suit overlap shows up in the numbers. With a suit in common QTo has 61.86% equity, and with none in common it has 60.53%. QTo does better with a shared suit, by 1.33 points. **QTo against 98s by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | QTo wins | Ties | 98s wins | QTo equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 24 | 50.00 | 61.403 | 0.922 | 37.675 | 61.864 | | No shared suit | 24 | 50.00 | 60.106 | 0.839 | 39.055 | 60.526 | ## How often this matchup comes up This page stands for 48 specific-card matchups (0.0030% of 1,624,350 ordered deals), or 96 once you count the seats both ways (0.0059%). ## A worked example Try it with money: two players each put in $100 and the whole board runs out every possible way. QTo averages $122.40 from the $200, up $22.40; 98s averages $77.60, down $22.40. Out of 1,000 deals you should see around 607 outright wins for QTo, 384 for 98s, and 9 split pots. ## The same matchup from the other side 98s versus QTo is this same page seen from the other hand: 38.80% for 98s, 61.20% for QTo. ## Keep exploring Open the calculator with QsTh against 9d8d 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 QsTh against 9d8d in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=QsTh&p2=9d8d) - [QTo combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/qto.md) - [98s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/98s.md) - [QTo vs 22](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/qto-vs-22.md) - [QTo vs 97s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/qto-vs-97s.md) - [44 vs 98s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/44-vs-98s.md) - [All hand matchups](https://georgelipoker.com/equity.md) ## How this was computed We counted every case. Each suit pattern of the 48 specific QTo against 98s deals meets all 1,712,304 boards, and the better five-card hand wins; a split pot is half a win each. The flop table reads each board under all ten of its three-card flops. Source: our own exact count from the GeorgeLiPoker poker math library. No outside data is used. ## Related - [QTo vs 22: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/qto-vs-22.md) - [QTo vs 97s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/qto-vs-97s.md) - [44 vs 98s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/44-vs-98s.md)