97s

97s (nine-seven suited) wins 49.2% of the time against a single random opponent, which places it 94th out of the 169 starting hands — the top 55.6% of the range. At a six-handed table (five opponents) its equity falls to 18.9% and its rank moves to 60; nine-handed (eight opponents) it holds 13.7% for rank 50. A suited hand — the flush adds a few points of raw equity.

Its suited/offsuit twin 97o runs at 46.4% (rank 109), a gap of 2.8 points. Sharing a suit is worth exactly those 2.8 points here — nothing about the ranks changes. The hand directly above it in the ranking is J4s at 49.2%, and directly below is Q4o at 49.1%, so three hands are packed into a band of 0.1 points.

Played heads-up against each of the other 168 hands, 97s is a favourite against 56 of them and an underdog against 112. Its best matchup is 72o at 74.7% and its worst is 99 at 16.5% — a spread of 58.2 points, which is why calling 97s simply "strong" or "weak" says very little. 1 opponents land inside one point of a coinflip, the closest being 55 at 49.8%.

97s dominates 8 hands that share one of its ranks, pushing hardest against 72o at 74.7%. It is dominated by 8 hands in return, the worst of them Q9s, which leaves 97s with only 30.5%. A single kicker can move the number by tens of points, and the full table below lists every one of those opponents.

Within the 78 suited hands it comes 45 of 78. The strongest hand in that group, AKs, is 18 points away, and the weakest, 32s, sits 13.3 points below. Measured against the average equity of all 169 hands, 51%, 97s lands -1.8 points from the middle of the pack, and 93 hands in the full ranking are still ahead of it.

Adding players costs equity steadily: 49.2% against one opponent, 34.4% against two, 21.8% against four and 13.7% against eight. That last figure is 123% of an even nine-way share (11.1%). The Chen formula scores this hand at 6.5 points, and it arrives 0.3% of the time (4 of 1,326 combinations).

One caveat worth repeating: every number on this page assumes the opponent holds a completely random hand and that the pot goes to showdown. Real opponents hold ranges, and a range that has already put money in is stronger than random — which is exactly why 97s reads as 49.2% here but plays worse than that against a raise. Use the 168 rows in the table below to see which specific holdings are the problem, rather than treating the headline figure as a verdict on the hand.

97s pairs the board on the flop — at least one of its two ranks hits — 32.4% of the time, and flops top pair or better (the paired card is the highest on the board, or two pair and up) 10.6%. By the river it has made a pair or better 48.7% of the time.

For straights, the flop completes one 0.980% of the time (192 flops), gives an eight-out draw 7.67% and a four-out gutshot 14.8%. By the river a straight using a hole card completes 7.76% of the time. For flushes, two or more of its suit land on the flop 11.8% of the time (a made flush 0.842%), and a flush is complete by the river 6.40%.

Put together, 97s flops a pair or better or a strong draw (a flush draw or an eight-out straight draw) 49.0% of the time — rank 8 of the 156 unpaired hands (tied with 3 others). The highest is JTs, T9s, 98s and 4 others at 50.6% and the lowest AKo, A2o at 32.8%.

Against one random hand, 97s goes from 49.1% before the flop up to 70.9% when either card pairs, and down to 38.7% when both miss. It connects 32.4% of the time (6,356 of 19,600 flops). Missing with a card above 9 on board leaves 38.5%; missing with nothing above 9 leaves 39.7%.

By board shape: rainbow 47.9%, two-tone 49.9%, monotone 49.5%. Two of your suit (a flush draw) gives 60.5% (10.9% of flops), and three of your suit (a made flush) 93.0% (0.842%). A paired board gives 46.2%, and a connected board (three ranks within five) 53.2%. The best row in the table is "Three of your suit (made flush)" at 93.0%, the worst "and at least one card above 9" at 38.5%.

The 49.2% at the top of the page is a 400,000-hand simulation; this table counts every deal of the opponent's two cards and the five-card board (2,097,572,400 per starting hand), which puts the pre-flop figure at 49.12% (a gap of 0.08 points). Each equity is taken with the flop out and the turn and river still to come.