88 vs a middle-position opening range: Equity & Strategy

Pocket Eights (88) has 55.2% equity all-in preflop against a middle-position opening range — 258 combos, 19.5% of all starting hands. It wins 54.7% of runouts outright, loses 44.3% and chops 1.0%. These are exact figures from full board enumeration against every unblocked combo in the range, not a simulation.

The range this is computed against

With one fewer player left to act, middle position adds the rest of the suited aces, the suited one-gappers and a second layer of offsuit broadways (ATo, KJo) to the UTG chart — about 19% of hands.

MP open — 258 combos, 19.5% of all starting hands: AA, KK, QQ, JJ, TT, 99, 88, 77, 66, 55, 44, 33, 22, AKs, AQs, AJs, ATs, A9s, A8s, A7s, A6s, A5s, A4s, A3s, A2s, KQs, KJs, KTs, K9s, QJs, QTs, Q9s, JTs, J9s, T9s, T8s, 98s, 87s, 76s, 65s, AKo, AQo, AJo, ATo, KQo, KJo

After card removal, 245 of those 258 combos are still available (13 are blocked by the cards 88 holds). 88 is ahead of 208 and behind 37.

Hardest parts of the range for 88

Easiest parts of the range for 88

88 has 55.2% equity all-in preflop against a middle-position opening range — 258 combos, 19.5% of all hands. Pocket Eights wins the pot outright 54.7% of the time, loses 44.3% and chops 1.0%. Your own two cards remove 13 of those combos before the flop is even dealt — a blocker effect this number already accounts for, because every combo containing one of your exact cards is stripped out of the range first. You are ahead of 208 of the 245 combos you can still be facing (85%), which is what a 55.2% number actually looks like hand by hand.

With one fewer player left to act, middle position adds the rest of the suited aces, the suited one-gappers and a second layer of offsuit broadways (ATo, KJo) to the UTG chart — about 19% of hands. Inside that range, the combos that hurt 88 most are 99 (18.1%), TT (18.4%) and JJ (18.8%); the ones you want to see are 87s (82.0%), 77 (81.8%) and 22 (81.6%). Across the whole range 88's equity swings from 18.1% at the bottom to 82.0% at the top — the single 55.2% headline is the combo-weighted average of all of it.

The practical read on 55.2% against a middle-position opening range: you can 3-bet for value or flat in position, but this is not a stack-off-preflop holding against a 19.5% opener.

88 vs MP open FAQ

What is 88's equity against a middle-position opening range?

88 has 55.2% equity all-in preflop against a middle-position opening range — it wins 54.7% of runouts outright, loses 44.3% and chops 1.0%. The range holds 258 combos (19.5% of all hands); 88 blocks 13 of them, leaving 245 live. This is exact full board enumeration, not a simulation.

Which hands in a middle-position opening range beat 88?

88 is behind 37 of the 245 live combos and ahead of the other 208. The worst matchups are 99 (18.1%), TT (18.4%) and JJ (18.8%); its best are 87s (82.0%), 77 (81.8%) and 22 (81.6%). Every figure is exact, computed against that hand's unblocked combos only.

What hands are in a middle-position opening range?

46 hand classes and 258 combos — 19.5% of the 1,326 possible starting hands. By combo count it is 30% pocket pairs (13 pairs, 78 combos), 42% suited hands (27 classes, 108 combos) and 28% offsuit hands (6 classes, 72 combos). That shape is why 88 runs at 55.2% against it rather than against a random hand.

Does 88 do better against a wider or a tighter range?

Wider, almost always. 88 has 61.4% equity against a loose-passive calling range (50.5% of hands) but 41.6% against a 4-betting range (3.2%). Equity against a range is mostly a question of how many weak hands the range still contains — which is why the same holding can be a monster against a button open and a fold against a 4-bet.

Run any hand vs range in the free equity calculator · All hand-vs-range matchups · 88 vs 3bet-value · 88 vs 4bet-range · 88 vs calling-station · aa vs utg-open · aa vs mp-open · aa vs co-open