Eight-seven suited (87s)

87s by the numbers

vs 1 random hand

48%

all-in equity

vs 5 random hands

19%

full 6-max table

Flop a pair or better

32.4%

pairing a hole card

Flop a flush draw

10.9%

flush 0.82%

How to play 87s by position

6-max cash game, around 100 big blinds deep.

Early position (UTG)

Fold in most games. It needs position and deep stacks to show a profit.

Middle position (hijack)

Fold in tough games; open-raise at loose, passive tables.

Late position (cutoff, button)

Open-raise from the cutoff and button. Position makes it easy to play draws and take pots when others miss.

Blinds

Raise when folded to in the small blind; in the big blind, call late opens when stacks are deep.

Facing a raise

Call a single raise in position with deep stacks. Fold to most 3-bets, since you rarely get the right price to play a big pot with a drawing hand.

After the flop

• Suited hands flop a flush draw about 10.9% of the time, and middle-card flops often give you straight draws too.
• Eight-seven hits boards like 9♣ 6♦ 5♠ that miss big pairs and ace-king, so you can win big pots against overpairs.
• Avoid big pots with one pair.

87s against common hands

Eight-seven suited wins 22.9% against AA and 41.7% against AKo. Against QQ it wins 22.1%.

All-in before the flop, exact results from every possible board. Suits as dealt in our example; figures shift slightly with other suit combinations.

What 87s makes by the river

If you see all five board cards, your best five-card hand ends up as each of these this often. Exact figures from every possible board.

• Straight flush0.2%
• Four of a kind0.1%
• Full house2.2%
• Flush6.4%
• Straight8.5%
• Three of a kind4.3%
• Two pair21.8%
• One pair40.6%
• High card15.9%

Common mistakes with 87s

• Playing out of position.
• Overvaluing one pair.
• Calling 3-bets with shallow stacks.

Where 87s sits in the chart

Eight-seven suited FAQ