88 vs 65s
Overpair against two undercards — about 80/20 for the pair.
- 88 Win
- 79.6%
- Tie
- 0.9%
- 88 Lose
- 19.5%
- Card combinations
- 24
- 88 vs random
- 69.2% · #7
- 65s vs random
- 43.0% · #128
Win, tie and loss for 88
When 88 and 65s get all in before the flop, 88 wins 80.1% of the time and 65s takes 19.9%. Broken down, 88 wins outright 79.6%, chops 0.9% and loses 19.5% — a margin of 60.1 points. Overpair against two undercards — about 80/20 for the pair.
The same matchup shifts depending on how the suits overlap. With no shared suit the number is 79.5% (for example 8s 8h against 6d 5d); with one shared suit it is 80.6% (8s 8h against 6s 5s). That is a spread of 1.06 points across the 24 distinct card combinations, and it comes almost entirely from whether the two hands are fighting over the same flush.
Add a third player holding a random hand and the split becomes 88 55.1%, 65s 18.1%, random 26.8%. 88 gives up 25 points and 65s gives up 1.9, so the favourite loses more than the underdog does. Extra players always eat into the leader's share faster than into anyone else's.
Taken on their own, 88 is worth 69.2% against a random hand (rank 7 of 169) and 65s is worth 43.0% (rank 128). The gap between them in the ranking is only 26.2 points, yet head to head the gap is 60.1 points — a reminder that a ranking table and a direct matchup are two different questions.
Framed as a run of one hundred identical all-ins, 88 scoops roughly 80 pots, splits about one, and loses the remaining 19. Against eight random opponents rather than this one specific hand, 88 would be down to 15.9% and 65s to 12.6%, so the shape of this particular confrontation matters far more than either hand's standing in the overall ranking.
From 65s's side, 19.9% is the break-even point for calling an all-in at 4.03:1 pot odds. Put another way, the call is profitable as long as the amount you have to put in is less than 19.9% of the pot you are playing for. 88 holds the other 80.1% of that same pot.
Two caveats keep this figure honest. First, it is showdown equity across all 24 card combinations with five board cards still to come — there is no fold equity in it, so the value of shoving in practice is usually higher than the raw percentage suggests. Second, it assumes 65s really does hold exactly 65s; against the wider range a player would actually get all in with, 88's 80.1% moves. Use the individual pages for 88 and 65s to see how each of them fares against all 168 other holdings before treating this single pairing as the whole picture.
Overlapping suits move the number
200,000 simulated showdowns per condition. The example column shows one concrete four-card layout.
| Condition | Example | Combos | 88 Equity | Win | Tie | Lose |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No shared suit | 8s 8h vs 6d 5d | 12 | 79.5% | 79.1% | 0.9% | 20.0% |
| One shared suit | 8s 8h vs 6s 5s | 12 | 80.6% | 80.1% | 1.0% | 18.9% |
Adding a random third hand
200,000 simulated showdowns, with the third hand dealt at random each time.
At a bigger table
| Random opponents | 88 | 65s |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 69.2% | 43.0% |
| 2 | 50.2% | 30.1% |
| 4 | 29.2% | 19.5% |
| 8 | 15.9% | 12.6% |
Related
FAQ
88 or 65s — which is ahead preflop?
88 is the favourite. 88 takes 80.1% and 65s 19.9%, a margin of 60.1 points, with 0.9% of hands ending in a chop.
Do the suits change 88 vs 65s?
Yes. With no shared suit it is 79.5%, and with one shared suit it is 80.6% — a swing of up to 1.06 points.
What happens three-way?
With one extra random hand in the pot the split is 88 55.1%, 65s 18.1%, random 26.8%. 88 drops 25 points compared with heads-up.
427 words / 34 distinct figures — Method