98s

98s (nine-eight suited) wins 50.8% of the time against a single random opponent, which places it 83th out of the 169 starting hands — the top 49.1% of the range. At a six-handed table (five opponents) its equity falls to 20.5% and its rank moves to 44; nine-handed (eight opponents) it holds 14.4% for rank 42. A suited connector — straight and flush draws in the same holding.

Its suited/offsuit twin 98o runs at 48.1% (rank 98), a gap of 2.7 points. Sharing a suit is worth exactly those 2.7 points here — nothing about the ranks changes. The hand directly above it in the ranking is Q6o at 51.0%, and directly below is T7s at 50.7%, so three hands are packed into a band of 0.3 points.

Played heads-up against each of the other 168 hands, 98s is a favourite against 59 of them and an underdog against 109. Its best matchup is 84o at 74.7% and its worst is 99 at 17.8% — a spread of 56.9 points, which is why calling 98s simply "strong" or "weak" says very little. 5 opponents land inside one point of a coinflip, the closest being 66 at 49.9%.

98s dominates 8 hands that share one of its ranks, pushing hardest against 84o at 74.7%. It is dominated by 8 hands in return, the worst of them T9s, which leaves 98s with only 30.8%. 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 39 of 78. The strongest hand in that group, AKs, is 16.4 points away, and the weakest, 32s, sits 14.9 points below. Measured against the average equity of all 169 hands, 51%, 98s lands -0.2 points from the middle of the pack, and 82 hands in the full ranking are still ahead of it.

Adding players costs equity steadily: 50.8% against one opponent, 36.2% against two, 23.6% against four and 14.4% against eight. That last figure is 130% of an even nine-way share (11.1%). The Chen formula scores this hand at 7.5 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 98s reads as 50.8% 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.

98s 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) 11.9%. By the river it has made a pair or better 48.7% of the time.

For straights, the flop completes one 1.31% of the time (256 flops), gives an eight-out draw 9.71% and a four-out gutshot 16.8%. By the river a straight using a hole card completes 9.12% 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, 98s flops a pair or better or a strong draw (a flush draw or an eight-out straight draw) 50.6% of the time — rank 1 of the 156 unpaired hands (tied with 6 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, 98s goes from 50.8% before the flop up to 72.7% when either card pairs, and down to 40.3% 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 40.6%; missing with nothing above 9 leaves 38.8%.

By board shape: rainbow 49.7%, two-tone 51.6%, monotone 50.8%. Two of your suit (a flush draw) gives 61.7% (10.9% of flops), and three of your suit (a made flush) 93.0% (0.842%). A paired board gives 47.4%, and a connected board (three ranks within five) 54.2%. The best row in the table is "Three of your suit (made flush)" at 93.0%, the worst "and nothing above 9" at 38.8%.

The 50.8% 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 50.80% (a gap of 0.00 points). Each equity is taken with the flop out and the turn and river still to come.