TT vs 88: Preflop Equity & Odds

HandWinTieEquity
TT (Pocket Tens)81.4%0.5%81.6%
88 (Pocket Eights)18.1%0.5%18.4%

How TT vs 88 unfolds by street

Pocket Tens (TT) is still ahead on 89% of flops against 88, and the lead survives to the turn on 86%. 88 takes the lead on the other 11% of flops, almost always by flopping a set. These figures come from full board enumeration, not a simulation.

StreetTT still ahead88 flipped the lead
Flop89%11%
Turn86%14%

Set one pocket pair against a bigger one and you get TT vs 88: TT wins 81.4%, 88 wins 18.1%, and 0.5% of boards chop. TT is a 4.5-to-1 favorite. The lower pair, 88, is drawing to the two cards left in the deck that make it a set; miss those and only a runner-runner straight or flush saves it, which is why it gets there just 1 time in 6.

Think in variance terms: 81.6% equity means TT loses this all-in nearly 18 times in 100, so even a "dominant" spot is a coin you'll see come up tails plenty. Getting it in as the 81.6% favorite is correct every time; the 18.4% that goes the other way is math, not a misplay.

As the bigger pair, TT, your whole job is to get the money in before a scare card — there's no fold here and slow-playing only lets 88 realize its set equity for free. As the smaller pair, the discipline is recognizing when stacks are deep enough that calling off 18.1% equity is a leak, even though folding pre feels impossible.

TT vs 88 FAQ

Who wins TT vs 88 preflop?

TT (Pocket Tens) is the favorite, winning 81.4% of all runouts, while 88 (Pocket Eights) wins 18.1%. The remaining 0.5% are split pots. Counting splits as half, TT's preflop equity is 81.6%.

How often does 88 beat TT?

88 wins 18.1% of the time all-in preflop against TT — roughly 1 in 6 — so it needs good pot odds or fold equity to get the money in profitably.

Can you fold the smaller pair in TT vs 88?

Almost never preflop all-in — but the 18.1% the smaller pair wins (about 1 in 6) means that when stacks are very deep and the action screams a bigger pair, laying it down is a real, if rare, fold. Set-mining the lower pair works only with the implied odds to win a full stack when you spike.

Does TT hold up against 88 after the flop?

TT is still ahead on 89% of flops and stays ahead through the turn on 86% of boards; 88 takes the lead on the other 11% of flops. These are exact figures from full board enumeration.

Run any matchup in the free equity calculator · AA VS TT · AA VS 99 · AA VS 88 · AA VS 77 · AA VS 66 · AA VS 55