--- title: "T9o vs 98s: preflop equity" url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/t9o-vs-98s.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/t9o-vs-98s" last_updated: "2026-10-23" type: "reference" summary: "T9o is a big favorite over 98s before the flop: 68.34% to 31.66% equity, counted exactly over every board, with the split by flop type and suit." related: ["https://georgelipoker.com/equity/t9o-vs-22.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/t9o-vs-97s.md", "https://georgelipoker.com/equity/t8s-vs-98s.md"] --- # T9o vs 98s: preflop equity T9o is a big favorite over 98s before the flop: 68.34% to 31.66% 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, T9o finishes with 68.34% of the pot and 98s with 31.66%. ## T9o against 98s: the numbers **Exact preflop results for T9o against 98s, in percent** | Hand | Wins | Ties | Loses | Equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | T9o | 64.936 | 6.814 | 28.250 | 68.343 | | 98s | 28.250 | 6.814 | 64.936 | 31.657 | The first hand is an offsuit hand; the second is a suited hand. Sharing a rank is the signature of a dominated hand, since the weaker hand is usually out-kicked when the shared rank shows up. T9o is well ahead, and 98s needs a specific kind of board to catch up. About 6.81% of boards chop the pot, which is why equity sits slightly above the win figure for both hands. T9o ranks number 78 of 169 starting hands, and 98s ranks number 83, by equity against a random hand. **Boards behind the percentages: 61,642,944 counted in all** | Hand | Boards won, about | Boards tied, about | Boards lost, about | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | T9o | 40,028,000 | 4,200,000 | 17,414,000 | | 98s | 17,414,000 | 4,200,000 | 40,028,000 | 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. **T9o 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) | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | T9o | 2.159 | 1.540 | 3.540 | 0.463 | | 98s | 0.463 | 3.540 | 1.540 | 2.159 | 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 Rainbow flops topped by a ten or better are the best for T9o (72.79%); low rainbow flops (nine high or lower) are the worst (59.81%). T9o stays ahead on all five textures. **T9o against 98s by flop texture, in percent** | Flop | Share of flops | T9o wins | Ties | 98s wins | T9o equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Rainbow, ten or higher | 25.293 | 69.618 | 6.348 | 24.034 | 72.792 | | Rainbow, nine or lower | 5.654 | 58.241 | 3.132 | 38.627 | 59.807 | | Two-tone | 46.527 | 64.275 | 5.484 | 30.241 | 67.017 | | Monotone | 5.192 | 61.176 | 6.390 | 32.434 | 64.371 | | Paired | 17.334 | 63.193 | 12.390 | 24.417 | 69.388 | 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 The table below sets each hand against its own random-hand baseline: a change of +16.81 points for T9o, from 51.53%, and -19.14 for 98s, from 50.80%. **T9o 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 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | T9o, all flops | 68.343 | 51.532 | +16.811 | 1.32622 | | T9o, rainbow, ten or higher | 72.792 | 51.532 | +21.260 | 1.41256 | | T9o, rainbow, nine or lower | 59.807 | 51.532 | +8.275 | 1.16058 | | T9o, two-tone | 67.017 | 51.532 | +15.485 | 1.30049 | | T9o, monotone | 64.371 | 51.532 | +12.839 | 1.24915 | | T9o, paired | 69.388 | 51.532 | +17.856 | 1.34650 | | 98s, all flops | 31.657 | 50.801 | -19.144 | 0.62316 | | 98s, rainbow, ten or higher | 27.208 | 50.801 | -23.593 | 0.53558 | | 98s, rainbow, nine or lower | 40.193 | 50.801 | -10.608 | 0.79119 | | 98s, two-tone | 32.983 | 50.801 | -17.818 | 0.64926 | | 98s, monotone | 35.629 | 50.801 | -15.172 | 0.70134 | | 98s, paired | 30.612 | 50.801 | -20.189 | 0.60259 | ## Does a shared suit matter? When the hands share a suit, T9o holds 69.29%; when they do not, it holds 67.87%. T9o does better with a shared suit, by 1.42 points. **T9o against 98s by suit overlap, in percent** | Deals | Specific deals | Share of deals | T9o wins | Ties | 98s wins | T9o equity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Share a suit | 12 | 33.33 | 65.814 | 6.956 | 27.230 | 69.292 | | No shared suit | 24 | 66.67 | 64.498 | 6.742 | 28.760 | 67.869 | ## How often this matchup comes up Out of 1,624,350 ways to deal two seats two cards each, 36 are T9o in one seat and 98s in the other (0.0022%); with the seats swapped too, 72 (0.0044%). ## A worked example To see what the equity is worth, imagine $100 each in a $200 pot. T9o is worth $136.68 on average (+$36.68); 98s is worth $63.32 (-$36.68). Think in thousands: about 649 of 1,000 go to T9o, about 283 go to 98s, and about 68 are chopped. ## The same matchup from the other side If you came looking for 98s against T9o, the numbers are the same with the hands swapped: 31.66% and 68.34%. ## Keep exploring Ts9h against 9d8d is a ready-made deal for the calculator, with no suit in common between the hands. The neighboring matchups below replace one hand with another of similar strength. - [Open Ts9h against 9d8d in the equity calculator](https://georgelipoker.com/tools/equity-calculator.md#p1=Ts9h&p2=9d8d) - [T9o combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/t9o.md) - [98s combos](https://georgelipoker.com/combos/98s.md) - [T9o vs 22](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/t9o-vs-22.md) - [T9o vs 97s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/t9o-vs-97s.md) - [T8s vs 98s](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/t8s-vs-98s.md) - [All hand matchups](https://georgelipoker.com/equity.md) ## How this was computed Method: exact enumeration. The 36 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 - [T9o vs 22: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/t9o-vs-22.md) - [T9o vs 97s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/t9o-vs-97s.md) - [T8s vs 98s: preflop equity](https://georgelipoker.com/equity/t8s-vs-98s.md)