--- title: "QTs vs 98s: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/qts-vs-98s.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/qts-vs-98s" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "QTs is a big favorite over 98s before the flop: 63.58% to 36.42% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/qts-vs-22.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/qts-vs-97s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a4s-vs-98s.md"] --- # QTs vs 98s: preflop equity QTs is a big favorite over 98s before the flop: 63.58% to 36.42% 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, QTs finishes with 63.58% of the pot and 98s with 36.42%. ## QTs against 98s: the numbers **Exact preflop results for QTs against 98s, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | QTs | 63.123 | 0.906 | 35.971 | 63.576 | | 98s | 35.971 | 0.906 | 63.123 | 36.424 | QTs meets 98s, and both are suited hands. The two hands share no rank, which makes this a pure matchup of card strength, straight chances and flush chances. That is a modest edge, the kind that shows up over many hands and is easy to miss in one. Ties are 0.91% of the outcomes here; each tied board gives both hands half the pot. In the ranking of all 169 starting hands, QTs is number 34 and 98s is number 83. **Boards behind the percentages: 27,396,864 counted in all** | Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | QTs | 17,294,000 | 248,000 | 9,855,000 | | 98s | 9,855,000 | 248,000 | 17,294,000 | 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. **QTs 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) | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | QTs | 1.745 | 1.584 | 2.780 | 0.573 | | 98s | 0.573 | 2.780 | 1.584 | 1.745 | 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 Break the boards down by their first three cards and QTs is strongest on rainbow flops topped by a ten or better (69.69%) and weakest on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower) (42.31%). 98s is ahead on low rainbow flops (nine high or lower), even though it trails QTs when every flop is counted. **QTs against 98s by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | QTs wins | Ties | 98s wins | QTs equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 24.595 | 69.462 | 0.458 | 30.080 | 69.691 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 6.314 | 42.054 | 0.512 | 57.434 | 42.310 | | Two-tone | 46.727 | 62.783 | 0.429 | 36.788 | 62.997 | | Monotone | 5.273 | 58.773 | 3.521 | 37.706 | 60.534 | | Paired | 17.091 | 64.055 | 2.192 | 33.753 | 65.151 | 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 The table below sets each hand against its own random-hand baseline: a change of +4.11 points for QTs, from 59.47%, and -14.38 for 98s, from 50.80%. **QTs 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 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | QTs, all flops | 63.576 | 59.468 | +4.108 | 1.06908 | | QTs, rainbow, ten or higher | 69.691 | 59.468 | +10.223 | 1.17191 | | QTs, rainbow, nine or lower | 42.310 | 59.468 | -17.158 | 0.71148 | | QTs, two-tone | 62.997 | 59.468 | +3.529 | 1.05934 | | QTs, monotone | 60.534 | 59.468 | +1.066 | 1.01793 | | QTs, paired | 65.151 | 59.468 | +5.683 | 1.09556 | | 98s, all flops | 36.424 | 50.801 | -14.377 | 0.71699 | | 98s, rainbow, ten or higher | 30.309 | 50.801 | -20.492 | 0.59662 | | 98s, rainbow, nine or lower | 57.690 | 50.801 | +6.889 | 1.13561 | | 98s, two-tone | 37.003 | 50.801 | -13.798 | 0.72839 | | 98s, monotone | 39.466 | 50.801 | -11.335 | 0.77687 | | 98s, paired | 34.849 | 50.801 | -15.952 | 0.68599 | ## Does a shared suit matter? Two kinds of deal exist here. In 4 of them the hands share a suit and QTs holds 66.02%. In 12 they do not, and it holds 62.76%. QTs does better with a shared suit, by 3.26 points. **QTs against 98s by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | QTs wins | Ties | 98s wins | QTs equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 4 | 25.00 | 65.522 | 1.001 | 33.477 | 66.023 | | No shared suit | 12 | 75.00 | 62.323 | 0.874 | 36.803 | 62.760 | ## How often this matchup comes up Counting specific cards, QTs against 98s appears in 16 of the 1,624,350 ordered heads-up deals (0.0010%), and in 32 when the seats are swapped too (0.0020%). ## A worked example Try it with money: two players each put in $100 and the whole board runs out every possible way. QTs averages $127.16 from the $200, up $27.16; 98s averages $72.84, down $27.16. Over a long run, 1,000 deals split into about 631 for QTs, 360 for 98s and 9 tied. ## The same matchup from the other side The reversed view, 98s against QTs, shows 36.42% for 98s and 63.58% for QTs. It is the same count, so it redirects here. ## Keep exploring The calculator link fills in QsTs 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 QsTs against 9h8h in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=QsTs&p2=9h8h) - [QTs combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/qts.md) - [98s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/98s.md) - [QTs vs 22](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/qts-vs-22.md) - [QTs vs 97s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/qts-vs-97s.md) - [A4s vs 98s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a4s-vs-98s.md) - [All hand matchups](https://georgelipoker.com/equity.md) ## How this was computed The page is built from a full enumeration: 1,712,304 boards, every suit pattern of the 16 specific deals, both seven-card hands evaluated. A tie is worth half a win to each hand, and a board is tallied under each of its ten possible flops for the texture rows. Source: our own exact count from the GeorgeLiPoker poker math library. No outside data is used. ## Related - [QTs vs 22: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/qts-vs-22.md) - [QTs vs 97s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/qts-vs-97s.md) - [A4s vs 98s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/a4s-vs-98s.md)