On Day 4 Collin discusses the various types of equity.

If you have not yet read Day 4 and watched the video for Day 4 - take a few minutes now to do that and then come back here to discuss it. Don't forget to take the quiz at the end of the video!:

The Two Types of Equity

This is the simplest and easiest to understand breakdown of equity that I have ever seen. Collin and Katie will be happy to explain this further and answer your questions in this thread.

I found that Collin did an amazing job of explaining equity in a way we can all understand it in this chapter!

this lesson needs to be thought of in my head, first question is what is the calculation used to determine a % equity. What is the best way to put hands inside Equilab to see the %. All other help is greatly appreciated

I have a second question, yes you can think of a % of your chips bet to the pot, but how do you put an equity on the other player(s),

Is it equity on the cards or the money in the pot ?

Originally Posted by onecardsteve

I have a second question, yes you can think of a % of your chips bet to the pot, but how do you put an equity on the other player(s),

Is it equity on the cards or the money in the pot ?

I believe you would calculate equity by putting your cards up against their expected range. Good questions though, I would like to know as well for sure.

Thanks Debi!

Steve, nice question and I hope I'm understanding it correctly In Equilab, you would want to put in your hand first, and then your opponent's hand or range. At that point you click to Calculate and it gives the percentages. If you then multiple your % by the pot size, you get your total number-of-chips equity in the pot.

Hope that helps and thanks for posting Bama too, that's a good answer and it's definitely true that these are ranges we expect our opponents to have without knowing for sure!

I believe this section contains one of the most important aspects of gaming..what is your presence worth and what are you bringing to the table. When you`re at a table everyone sizes you up in terms of equity...who thinks they can own you and who thinks you will own them. This is where equity first introduces itself (ie. The Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King: Inside the Richest Poker Game of All Time). In the video, K9u vs JJ, if K9 was known to rarely go all-in then JJ would think it plausible to go all-in despite being at a known disadvantage. In my opinion, there should be another bit of information, possibly in the form of player notes or other format that must account for K9`s tendencies..a feasibility threshold for example.

The Kelly betting criterion was derived from Shannon`s work in information theory and in my opinion to properly assess the equity attributed to each player in the hand requires more information on each player`s behavioral tendencies. At the very least, there should be some volatility measure associated with the equity values as shown.

Although not explicit, certain intrinsic measures of data can be modeled surprisingly well with Benford`s Law. Can Benford`s Law, Zipf`s Law or other such statistical observations be used to enhance Kelly betting (thus equity)....other than finding weaker and wealthy poker players.

Originally Posted by Collin Moshman

Thanks Debi!

Steve, nice question and I hope I'm understanding it correctly In Equilab, you would want to put in your hand first, and then your opponent's hand or range. At that point you click to Calculate and it gives the percentages. If you then multiple your % by the pot size, you get your total number-of-chips equity in the pot.

Hope that helps and thanks for posting Bama too, that's a good answer and it's definitely true that these are ranges we expect our opponents to have without knowing for sure!

Thank you for the response and clarification. I am finding the series to be very helpful and it has taught me a lot so far. Much appreciated!

Finished Day #4.

i)KillDonk's equity: 8.8%

ii)KillDonk's equity in chips: ~47

iii)CO has a top pair with weak kicker on a two-flush flop. Even if Killdonk shoves, he could put him on the flush draw, or on a mid pair, like the pocket Jacks or pocket 10s, etc., and continue with his one-pair hand. It depends of course on what type of player the CO is. I would say Killdonk could find some fold equity is he shoves his whole stack and puts CO's tourney life in the mercy of a non-premium top pair.

iv)Didn't understand the question very well.

Tomorrow with Day #5.

Thanks Bama!

Poly, we don't discuss Kelly Criterion much in this series so it's awesome you're posting that here so people see it

Luvart, good work completing the first four days so quickly!

Thanks for the video and write up on equity. I’ve always found it interesting because I would see percentages next to players’ hands on TV, but never knew that you could calculate it.

Are there common match ups where memorizing equities would helpful? I can think of AK vs pairs as one. I guess using Equilab could work, but I’d prefer having a couple numbers at my disposal. Any help would be appreciated!

This Chapter is very important. The concept of equity greatly increases the level of play when it is allied to your range and especially to what you attribute to the villain.
Obviously both experience and information about the villains are extremely important at this time, because otherwise we can have a jackpot as in a casino against more aggressive players.


The concept of equity during the tournament is also equally important because the hero can see how much profit the player can make by sometimes being a minority participant in the number of chips during an action. This concept coupled with pot odds make the player make decisions during the most difficult hours of the tournament when the bankroll is reduced and the pots are higher, generating spot opportunities.

Finally, the concept of fold equity is very important but then I believe it depends on the information of the villains and sometimes if the table has already been on the flop, turn or river because otherwise as the villains do not know which hand you have they will call with good hands even very tall pots, sometimes making life in the tournament unfeasible.

Good lucky and lets move forward.

Thanks Jean-Pierre!

Nate I appreciate that and you're exactly right -- it's just like watching TV poker where they give the %'s. My suggestion is to download Equilab for free and try out ones that interest you to see patterns.

A few good match-ups:

** Pair is slight favorite over random overcards
** Suited connectors are a slight favorite over low pair
** Any two low cards are usually at least 30% against two higher cards
** Domination (AK vs AT or AT vs JJ) -- weaker hand is usually also around 30%

Good luck!

Fold equity in tournaments is greater than in cash games and it increases with relative stack sizes. Great tool once you get the concept.

Is there not some fold equity from the k? Or would this card have to be an A to act as a scare card for us to Cbet on.

I’m presuming we don’t know the villains cards and have him on a range that calls our PF bet, so I would usually cbet here

I am probably wrong here

Very interesting topic.
On the preflop: followed by a call 3bet from the opponent. (the opponent has 1378 chips, 225 chips is 16% of the stack), therefore, I assume his range is 20% of the hands).
Against range: 66+,A4s+,K8s+,Q9s+,J9s+,T9s,A9o+,KTo+,QTo+,JTo on the flop: 3 5 K
1. equity: 61%
2. equity in chips: 324
3. Fold equity:39%
4. Fold equity in chips: 207
On the flop, after a check in response to a raise of 350 chips, a call followed, therefore he almost certainly has K. Against his hand with the king of equity JJ from 8.9% to 13%. Need to stop.

Originally Posted by pip77

Is there not some fold equity from the k? Or would this card have to be an A to act as a scare card for us to Cbet on.

I’m presuming we don’t know the villains cards and have him on a range that calls our PF bet, so I would usually cbet here

I am probably wrong here

You're right that there's always fold equity anytime your opponent can hit the fold button. (That's actually an awesome Katie quote from back in the day ). Our main goal with fold equity is just to assess qualitatively (i.e. not in an exact way) whether it's likely our opponent will fold to our bet or raise.

Equity helps a lot when making decisions, whether I call, check or fold.
The only thing I don't like are the tools that help to calculate equity, because in my opinion the game must be all mental of the player.

For some reason I find this one of the most difficult topics. I kind of understand on an intellectual level when it is described, but find it difficult in practice, especially live at the tables. Maybe it's my age?

Maybe it's because when you know the hands it's straight forward enough, but when working with a potential range, you don't have time to use something like equilab at the table and, especially at micro stakes, the ranges are often so wide. But this is definitely an area that I need to work on.

Originally Posted by cferdi

For some reason I find this one of the most difficult topics. I kind of understand on an intellectual level when it is described, but find it difficult in practice, especially live at the tables. Maybe it's my age?

Maybe it's because when you know the hands it's straight forward enough, but when working with a potential range, you don't have time to use something like equilab at the table and, especially at micro stakes, the ranges are often so wide. But this is definitely an area that I need to work on.

I feel the same way regarding time frame. I guess we just have to have an understanding of similar hands ex: pair against over pair etc.
I have a hard time with it, when you are all in preflop. I mean I understand after seeing both players cards, one has better equity, but at that point, you have no other choices to make. So I see it as 50/50, you are either gonna hit or your opponent is.

When you are playing online you can apply the percentages through the odds calculator, now when you are playing live you must do this mentally and it is then that the situation becomes the process more laborious after several hours sitting playing.

Originally Posted by acidburnfx

When you are playing online you can apply the percentages through the odds calculator, now when you are playing live you must do this mentally and it is then that the situation becomes the process more laborious after several hours sitting playing.

I don't see how you can when playing online - the time you get to play your hand isn't usually long enough to keep switching back and forth to enter details - (or maybe I need a bigger screen)

Thank you for these lesson.
Honestly i think that's will be very difficult to estimate equity while playing.
But the think that i learned today and what i always ask myself about is when two players have the same cards, but both have one same color, why the quity of winning is not the same when they are all in.
And with these lesson i understand it : because always there is a chance of flush when they have cards with the same color and then the one with the highest cards color will have more chance to win and that's why we find different equity

Hope flush will always be there for me

Originally Posted by cferdi

For some reason I find this one of the most difficult topics. I kind of understand on an intellectual level when it is described, but find it difficult in practice, especially live at the tables. Maybe it's my age?

Maybe it's because when you know the hands it's straight forward enough, but when working with a potential range, you don't have time to use something like equilab at the table and, especially at micro stakes, the ranges are often so wide. But this is definitely an area that I need to work on.

It's not easy to just know equities when playing live poker, don't worry! Learn the concepts, let them guide your decision-making. But the goal isn't for example to have A6o, put an opponent on a range of top 35%, and say you have 46% equity against that range. Just do your best and practice

Well, another interesting article, thanks Collin.
This article in particular I will have to read it two or three times, because I have always had problems calculating equity.

Day 1 - Chapter 4

This chapter definitely gave me a headache with all this math!

When I play live and I try to do math, my opponents usually get frustrated. They have no idea how hard my brain is working trying to put all this math into perspective.

I guess it will get easier with time.

Response to video question;

Q1 - Killdonk has 8.8 % equity

Q2 - Killdonk has 42% chip equity

Q3 - Killdonk has almost 0% fold equity. Very little chance that
villain folds holding top pair!

Q4 - Killdonk has a 58% equity gain in chips if villain folds.

Hope this works out. A lot of hard work there but really good information.

One more chapter to catch up with the crowd. Whew, what a grind!

Hi guys. Day 4 completed. I like the point about determining equity based on the range of opponents and is something I hadn’t really thought too much about, but listening to it and reading it through in this course has made so much clear sense.

Thanks Collin.

Thanks Bentley, glad to hear that!

Nice work Redboy and Ammje!

Simply the probability of winning the hand at the end.

Understanding the equity is very important for a player dont get into tilt, iff u understand that in every single pot u play a persentage is yours and another is off the vilain,off course only one will take the pot donw,but dont forget u have take a part that doesnt bellong to you and you will have to return it sunner or later, iff u understand this is impossivel for you to go tilt because off lousing a hand or because off been in a donw swing

Hey!!
This part of poker study I am actually struggling with for a while. It kinda stops me from advancing because it seems very complicated, especially that english is not my mother language and I don't know the equity term outside of poker!
But here, in this course, and I'm fairly expressing this, equity is very well explained, and I am happy to finally getting over this (a little bit ashamed since this concept is very simple)

Anyway. Thanks again for the knowledge

gl gl gl

Originally Posted by BentleyBoy

Hi guys. Day 4 completed. I like the point about determining equity based on the range of opponents and is something I hadn’t really thought too much about, but listening to it and reading it through in this course has made so much clear sense.

Thanks Collin.

There's a lot more to learn in future lessons - you are going to love this course!

Originally Posted by Polytarp

I believe this section contains one of the most important aspects of gaming..what is your presence worth and what are you bringing to the table. When you`re at a table everyone sizes you up in terms of equity...who thinks they can own you and who thinks you will own them. This is where equity first introduces itself (ie. The Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King: Inside the Richest Poker Game of All Time). In the video, K9u vs JJ, if K9 was known to rarely go all-in then JJ would think it plausible to go all-in despite being at a known disadvantage. In my opinion, there should be another bit of information, possibly in the form of player notes or other format that must account for K9`s tendencies..a feasibility threshold for example.

The Kelly betting criterion was derived from Shannon`s work in information theory and in my opinion to properly assess the equity attributed to each player in the hand requires more information on each player`s behavioral tendencies. At the very least, there should be some volatility measure associated with the equity values as shown.

Although not explicit, certain intrinsic measures of data can be modeled surprisingly well with Benford`s Law. Can Benford`s Law, Zipf`s Law or other such statistical observations be used to enhance Kelly betting (thus equity)....other than finding weaker and wealthy poker players.

Information Theory sounds interesting indeed. I am not a great math person by any means, but I love investigating things like this logically or hypothetically. I was familiar with some of Shannon's work, but not on information theory.

Side note here: I kind of laughed inside when the lesson revealed that there are two types of equity ... "Bluff, we are poker players so get used to it", then actually discusses more than two types. xD

I think this is a good concep to keep in mind but not sure if it's good to use it when playing live.

Guess I will find out with the time.

Basically we have to know the player's range of cards to have a more accurate idea of equity, AA against a tight nit player is not the same as against a manic player.



.

Thank you for explanation of one of the most important topics. It was informative and easy to understand. Much appreciated!

When I started playing poker I heard about equity many times so I decided to study it first of all. When I read your book I've already known what equity is. Despite that fact, I found out lots of new things for me (fold equity, for example). Moreover, now I know how equity is connected with EV.

I have a question: how to maximize EV? I put opponent on a range then count my equity and play pots with 50%+ equity and don't put chips in less than 50% equity pots?

Originally Posted by Phoenix Wright

Side note here: I kind of laughed inside when the lesson revealed that there are two types of equity ... "Bluff, we are poker players so get used to it", then actually discusses more than two types. xD

Originally Posted by Showbizin

Thank you for explanation of one of the most important topics. It was informative and easy to understand. Much appreciated!

When I started playing poker I heard about equity many times so I decided to study it first of all. When I read your book I've already known what equity is. Despite that fact, I found out lots of new things for me (fold equity, for example). Moreover, now I know how equity is connected with EV.

I have a question: how to maximize EV? I put opponent on a range then count my equity and play pots with 50%+ equity and don't put chips in less than 50% equity pots?

Maximizing EV isn't quite that simple, but we'll talk a lot more about this in the days to come including the process for optimally playing draws.

In my oppinion, it is always better to thing in % equity. Am I right? If not, in which situation am I wrong?

Another question: can I use Equilab while I am playing at pokerstars?

Originally Posted by betang

Another question: can I use Equilab while I am playing at pokerstars?

NO, Equilab is prohibited with Pokerstars


.

Originally Posted by betang

Another question: can I use Equilab while I am playing at pokerstars?

Why not? Use it if you have enough time to choose your hand and range of the opponent, it is not easy. It’s better to calculate the special situation and mark the patterns.

If I am having trouble determining equity fold. Does this mean that I'm not good enough to put an opponent in the range?
Do we calculate fold equity?

Originally Posted by Coinuss

Why not? Use it if you have enough time to choose your hand and range of the opponent, it is not easy. It’s better to calculate the special situation and mark the patterns.

If I am having trouble determining equity fold. Does this mean that I'm not good enough to put an opponent in the range?
Do we calculate fold equity?

Originally Posted by betang

In my oppinion, it is always better to thing in % equity. Am I right? If not, in which situation am I wrong?

Yes, if there's an option to think in terms of equity, you would always want to do that

Originally Posted by betang

Another question: can I use Equilab while I am playing at pokerstars?

Carmenzu is right; Stars doesn't allow you to use many programs when you have the software open. This list includes both ICMizer and Equilab.

I really enjoyed the comparison of equity to house prices - makes it so easily relatable! I thought I understood equity pretty well, but this chapter is so well written - I really enjoyed it!

Important fold equity term if we get to dominate it well and added to the ranks of your opponents before the flop and after the flop; and against a passive player our fold equity can give us a big pot.

Originally Posted by Mateo

I really enjoyed the comparison of equity to house prices - makes it so easily relatable! I thought I understood equity pretty well, but this chapter is so well written - I really enjoyed it!

So glad to hear that, thanks Mateo!

Originally Posted by Collin Moshman

So glad to hear that, thanks Mateo!

No, thank you for a great course

day 4 complted , equity has various types, and from what i have read in the guide , there are prinicpally 2 types , thnx collin for the great explanation and thnx CC for having theses great people amoung us in the best poker community ever

I just finished watching Day #3 and #4 and those videos really complement each other, really great content!

Also I realise I've been using fold equity pretty much on spots close to the bubble or the final table, this not the first time I hear about fold equity but I didn't quite know exactly what it was, it's nice to understand the specific move I'm making now