A♠8♠

A8s

Ace-8 suited

Rank
21of 169
Equity vs random
61.6%
Combinations
4
Better than
89.9%

A8s ranks 21 out of the 169 starting hands in Hold'em. Against a random hand it wins 61.6% of the time, which puts it ahead of 89.9% of all possible deals once the deck is sorted by that equity. It comes with 4 of the 1,326 possible combinations — 0.3% of the hands you will be dealt.

How to play it before the flop

The fundamentals charts open it from the cutoff for 2.5bb, and from the button as well. If the button opens and you are in the big blind, the chart says call.

A suited ace adds two things to the ace: the flush, and more importantly the blocker. Holding an ace makes it less likely your opponent has AA or AK, which is exactly what makes it a good bluff 3-bet. Against the big blind 3-bet range it keeps 33.9%, better than its low card suggests, because the flush and straight equity carry it when the ace does not.

What this hand makes

You pair one of your two cards on 32.4% of flops. You flop a flush draw 10.9% of the time and a made flush 0.84%; seeing all five cards, you end up with a flush 6.6% of the time. Going to the river every time, the hand ends up as pair 43.5% of the time and stays high card 18.1%.

You pair a card 32.4%
Flush draw 10.9%
Flopped flush 0.84%
Open-ended straight draw 1.63%
Gutshot straight draw 5.9%

Where it ends up if you see all five cards

High card 18.1%
Pair 43.5%
Two pair 22.3%
Three of a kind 4.4%
Straight 2.8%
Flush 6.6%
Full house 2.2%
Four of a kind 0.13%
Straight flush 0.02%

Exact enumeration, no sampling: the flop events run through all 19,600 possible flops and the final distribution through all 2,118,760 five-card boards. The distribution assumes you always reach the river, so it describes the hand’s potential rather than a real session, where most hands are folded earlier. Open-ended includes double gutshots (two distinct ranks complete it).

Against the reference ranges

Range Notation Your equity
UTG opening range 77+, ATs+, KQs, AJo+, KQo 36.2%
MP opening range 66+, A9s+, KTs+, QJs, ATo+, KQo 38.2%
Cutoff opening range 22+, A4s+, K9s+, Q9s+, J9s+, T9s, 98s, A9o+, KTo+, QTo+, JTo 47.3%
Button opening range 22+, A2s+, K5s+, Q7s+, J8s+, T8s+, 97s+, 86s+, 75s+, 65s, 54s, A2o+, K9o+, Q9o+, J9o+, T9o 53.6%
Big blind 3-bet range TT+, AQs+, A5s-A4s, AKo 33.9%
Big blind calling range 22-99, A2s-AJs, KTs+, QTs+, J9s+, T8s+, 97s+, 86s+, 76s, 65s, ATo+, KJo+, QJo 50.1%

Equity if the hand goes to the river against an opponent holding exactly that range. 120,000-hand Monte Carlo with a fixed seed, computed by our engine.

Hand versus hand

A8s against AA 12.0% behind
A8s against KK 32.2% behind
A8s against QQ 32.3% behind
A8s against AKs 29.1% behind
A8s against JTs 54.7% favourite
A8s against 72o 69.9% favourite

These are not estimates: they are the exact enumeration of all 1,712,304 possible boards for each matchup. Suited hands are matched up in different suits.

Similar hands

All starting hands