Understanding Equity in Poker

Tammy

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This is the discussion thread for Week 2 of the February Forum Challenge. But anyone can feel free to read the strategy article below and join in! If you haven't joined in on the Forum Challenge, I would encourage you to check it out and get started.

Like it or not, if you want to be successful in poker you have to understand the maths behind it. And that means understanding and taking advantage of equity and edges you may have. But you have to know how to calculate that and apply it right? That's where our article comes in:

Online Poker Equity: Understanding Equity Poker

Read the article above and post here discussing what you learned from it, or anything you may want to add from the article. How do you apply this concept to your own game?
 
Edison A

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Understanding Equity in Poker - Discussion Thread

Chris Moneymaker was a motivation for the online poker players demonstrated that we all have the possibility of reaching an event in the world poker series, also attracted a new generation of poker players and started to see poker in another way, He saw that decisions could be made mathematical factors called "pot odds" and "equity" at first the players refused to accept that this mathematical calculation could be accurate, but after using the calculation "pot odds" and "equity" in plays pre-flop, flop, turn and river, they realized that it was undoubtedly a great advantage to use such a mathematical calculation, today many online players use it, using the mathematical calculation "pot odds" and "equity" is not going to guarantee that you win a hand, but it certainly helps you calculate the risk of each move you are making, nowadays poker is no longer a common game, now it is a game that requires many skills and also consists of tools that I love you Help calculate your chances of winning or losing a hand with a simple mathematical calculation
 
freddy66

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awesome

thanks guys for the post......now this is what its all about guys,keep the great threads and posts coming......i love learning...im like a sponge soaking it all up.....great job:cool:
 
mtl mile end

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Good, straightforward explanation. I think the most important part is:

"Strict adherents to equity would say you should bet every time you believe you have more equity, as you will win more often than you lose. But equity is an inexact science and should just be (sic) one factor in the equation when deciding whether or not to bed, fold or call."


It's important to remember that equity is ONE factor, albeit an important one, to consider in any situation. When players complain about bad beats in situations where they should never have been getting it in to begin with (due to other factors), equity is the number one reason to rationalize, justify, and complain. This, to me, is not how one should use the concept of "equity".
 
dbchristy

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thanks for this post It is def something I need to improve in my game
 
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I think this is 1 of the best articles. 1 of the biggest problem I see people make is not understading their equity (!specialy post-flop) if there is 1 massive leak that allmost all players have even at "high" tab (atleast in MTTs) is just strange understading of what their had could be. Noticed some strange shoves/calls that could not be descibed as "well... it's like totaly GTO man!"
 
zam220

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Good and simple explanation. Poker calculator is the simplest and most popular poker software. With it, you can easily and quickly calculate your chances of winning and advantage over other players at the table.You can use the calculator to analyze hands and make complex poker decisions. You can also see how the interest in winning changes with each street and each new open card.I advise you to try the calculator for analysis of hands
 
chicopaw

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Knowing your equity in poker relies greatly on the ability to accurately put your opponents on a hand. As you get better at reading your opponents, the accuracy of your equity analysis will also get better.
Strict adherents to equity would say you should bet every time you believe you have more equity, as you will win more often than you lose. But equity is an inexact science and should just be one factor in the equation when deciding whether or not to bed, fold or call.
The article on equity holds true, observing and paying close attention of the players at the table and the cards they proceed to play with or fold, can always further ur insight to the range they play, thus giving yourself the chance to calculate equity How a player sitting at 5-10 tables can do this is beyond me

 
makisaa

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Maths are very important in poker. This needs to watch the game. If we don't watch the evolution of the game, poker maths study, will not have desirable results. Equity is part of the maths of the game. It is a kind of valuation of the pair we have. It is one of the most important things when game has started.
 
PokerFunKid

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Equity is very important which also brings the term odds in my mind. I think for starters it will be important to understand odds, and implied odds. In the games i play i tend to play very agressive because i recognize the opponents that spew and when very deep the implied odds are huge. While if you're shorter it will suck more to call 3bets with marginal hands, or openings a lot wider, but with the massive implied odds versus particular opponents i think its good to understand those hand will get a lot more value. I'd rather not call to wide with hands like J8s versus a 3-bet deep in a game while we are shorter, but early stage i'd call all day. Because i know they will punt off their 200bb stack if i do hit my flop. You will have to have a good understand how to make ur loss minimum though if you do not hit a great hand.
 
malakata19

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Very interesting article, which the truth had heard but had not read. Trying to understand the concept comes to mind that many times I'm playing my cards incorrectly, but at the same time I wonder how to handle equity with the slow play that sometimes you want to know the type of player already ?, and this part confuses me a bit since the equity for what I see does not share the slow play but the opposite is to ensure the best part of the boat at the time you are either preflop on the flop, turn or river; but at the same time I think everything will depend on your opponent. Please, if someone can give me a suggestion as to what is expressed.

 
CRStals

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Poker equity is one of the easiest stats to calculate, but one of the most difficult to calculate on the fly, and a lot of beginner poker players don't grasp this concept. While I feel this article does a great job at breaking down the math, the key input is the % likelihood to win a hand at a given point.

Hand reading is one of the hardest concepts to master but if you can grasp certain hands and betting patterns then this is one of the most critical concepts to learn.


But I feel that the article needs to touch on fold equity. The reverse calculation is also key to understand - if the pot is 800, and you have 4000 back but your opponent only has 1000 then betting 500 doesn't make a lot of sense because their stack to pot ratio is now less than 1. Having little to no fold equity may influence your decision to shove vs bet 1/2 pot, or check because there's no room to bet and only get called.
 
Andrew Popov

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"Pot Odds" and "equity" are the most important concepts for understanding poker mathematics (for others, one can include statistical data for assessing the range of the villain's game and the value model of the chips (for the tournament game and SnG), but they should be discussed separately).

Understanding "pot odds" will not save you from a loss in every particular card deal, but in general you will make more accurate and reliable decisions. What will make your game more successful at a distance.
 
Vorem

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A valuable article. I use the old but free PokerStove calculator to calculate Equity, always after the game I check a few hands to see if I played correctly in this situation and whether I had enough Equity.
I believe that to correctly determine your hand Equity you need to be able to correctly determine the range of the opponent
 
whiskers77

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I think, it is a very nice written article, that explains the basics about equity.
But there are some informations, that also could be included and mentioned in the article, like e.g. pott odds and expected value, that are also connected somehow to this topic. Furthermore it would be also interesting to show how stack size is also connected to equity in tourneys. So that you need short stacked in a tourney less equity for going all-in or calling than with bigger stacks. For example with 8BB left you need only an equity of 36% compared to 17BB where you should have at least an equity of 42%.
 
No1eJoker

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A very important factor for success in poker and the results are visible after a long time, but many players do not adhere to that .. many players know lose many chips even though they have little chance of winning (small pairs, gutshot straight draw or over pair) in such situations very small percentage to win on turn and river but many players lose a lot on such cards, hoping to get out that card that will bring them win..
 
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I really like the article on Poker Equity, it is nicely written. Without knowing your opponents cards, using a calculator is not that much help during the game... but Equity Calculation is really good for post-game hand analysis. Poker is a game of luck, so you cannot really just look at your results to gauge how well or bad you are playing. Poker Equity calculations is a great way to evaluate the potential profitability/loss regardless of the actual outcome.
 
trippin

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Reading all this hurts, i'll simplify. If you have outs you got all the equity SHOVE.
 
Ivansito26

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very good article and I think it is very important for new players because many factors, the position, your stack and know how to read the player, when you have bigger stack is easier to push more chips on weak players and in bad pocision and as it says the article Equity changes after each street - pre-flop, flop, turn and river.

 
playinggameswithu

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A mistake I noticed in myself is not realizing a pair with open ender straight draw or pair with flush draw are not really that great equity up against a pair...yea it is like 52% and 56% respectively but that is still low also when you factor your opponent having stronger hands than 1 pair top pair it is at best break even.

I play these draws more prudently in MTT's im trying in.
 
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Hy!
Oh yes folks, do your maths!
I´m trying to learn and improve every day but I have a normal life as well.
But if someone thinks of making money out of poker it´s absolutely important how to use this tool and know all the data.
So I still rely on my experiance but I try to use quick calculations more often.
I think it´s very important.
By
 
Peppinotom

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Chris Moneymaker was a motivation for the online poker players demonstrated that we all have the possibility of reaching an event in the world poker series, also attracted a new generation of poker players and started to see poker in another way, He saw that decisions could be made mathematical factors called "pot odds" and "equity" at first the players refused to accept that this mathematical calculation could be accurate, but after using the calculation "pot odds" and "equity" in plays pre-flop, flop, turn and river, they realized that it was undoubtedly a great advantage to use such a mathematical calculation, today many online players use it, using the mathematical calculation "pot odds" and "equity" is not going to guarantee that you win a hand, but it certainly helps you calculate the risk of each move you are making, nowadays poker is no longer a common game, now it is a game that requires many skills and also consists of tools that I love you Help calculate your chances of winning or losing a hand with a simple mathematical calculation
sure, and everything besides is variance :rofl:It is definetily a need of human resonsibilty to figure out, whether you can beat this BIG BET of your opponent or not. He already got high pair, or the flush, or whatever. What can YOU get? Do you have a hidden monster, that is always paid out so fine? Can you afford to call his move and still have enough to make a next move? or should this be your last move in this hand? Questions about questions? Are you going for the STRAIGHT FLUSH again_? Or better lay down your cards and get him on the overwhelming feeling of winning his bluff, WHEN HE IS IN bB, BECAUSE HE RAISED FROM utg? Get to know your opponent, and your ability to make the correct decision rises by 25%

BTW, my preferred personality in SESAMESTREET was GRAF ZAHL, the one with the numbers, and I am still counting the white lines on the highways and divide them by whatever is dividible, when I get bored. Or you have it, or you have it!
 
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Edison A

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exact! .. all evolves, so sometimes players young have advantage with those of the old school because they used calculations more and more, and you have a lot of reason when you say that you get an advantage 25%
 
Peppinotom

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I am going to celebrate my 50th B-day this year, calculator I have known at age 13 (8th class in germany) Then they took it away at age 15 without former advice!!!!
Now I am the calculator. Can you take your PT4, HM2 or even this cheaper thing called> "send me all your hands ever, and whenever you gained some wealth, I will take it away "programs to a live tournament you won online?
c-mon, I would be ashamed to do so, others are NOT!!!Last bad news I heard was Terry withdrawing 1000 US Dollars (not canadian)
How can you leave THAT MUCH money to the responsibility of ONE PERSON, you do not even know????
Does anybody have an idea what they do here in mexico to get your money?They put a pistol in his wife-s mouth and he says: sorry guys, I didnt have the chance of decision, your money is gone!After two years of whining and trying and whatsoever, you will agree!!!And MEXICO is still counted for 3rd World, so the better educated are in MALTA, BAHAMAS, or any other not leagalibilly reachable place. Your losses pay DANIELs buy ins. I hope Terry knew, but 1000$ could open discussions on CLIENT SERVICE and their next barreers.
 
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Helloween

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Good article. Thanks to the author for the information. Refreshed the memory of this topic. This knowledge is fundamental to every novice. I'll go and read Odds for Dummies.
 
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