Well, now I'm certain this all got started by thinking I was clear in the 1st post, when I wasn't.

I was referring to V opening UTG or UTG+1 & me next to act.

It was just one example of my lack of discipline at times PF. Primarily when I had been running card dead.

Let me give another example: Same V opens UTG & gets 3 callers who would do so with the top ~13% of starting hands.

I'm sitting on the button with 65s. I've got 21.2% equity, putting in 20% of the money & cards are live. An obvious call.

Lack of discipline Same scenario, only now there are only 2 callers, the stacks aren't as deep as you would prefer, but you haven't seen a flop in awhile, so you hope a blind will call. My equity is 22.8% & I'm putting in 25% of the money.

That's not bad, considering my position & the fact that I'm on the button. However, if I hit my hand but no broadway cards show up on the flop, how much am I going to make?

If I do get a flop that works well for me & someone else - say K43, J65, etc. How much am I going to make if I hit my str8 or how much will I invest with my 2 pr. b4 realizing I'm up against a set? Or, opponent[s] turn 2 pair?

And then there's the stack size element.

You see, I thought a measure of EV, was a combination of your equity, stack sizes, opponents tendencies & your relative position.

FWIW, most players' journey starts this way:

1. Play too many hands.
2. Play fewer hands.
3. Play more hands.
4. Play as many hands as needed to maximize table dynamic.

Perhaps I was just as ignorant in my response as your initial post was.

Anyhow, if you find yourself in the first stage of the journey, learning to fold AQs is not a bad thing.

Cool man, agreed.

Yes, definitely incomplete, but you got the idea.

Agree with folding in the OP and considering a call in position multi-way.

Hands are valuable for different reasons. AQs usually has high card value against normal pre-flop ranges. Call it pre-flop equity. It can dominate ranges, have strong hot/cold equity, etc. But not so against JJ+,AK.

While it lacks pre-flop equity against JJ+,AK, it can have post-flop equity, but only in the right circumstances. Position, stack depth, multi-way action, and villain tendencies are some of the key variables.

Against a JJ+,AK villain in EP 100BB deep going heads up to the flop, AQs has bad pre-flop equity and possibly even worse post-flop equity... even if we're in position.

Against a JJ+,AK villain in EP with 4 callers and you're on the BTN 250BB deep, AQs still has bad pre-flop equity but now it has much stronger post-flop equity. And of course, post-flop equity is by far the most important.

Preflop equity is almost irrelevant with decent stack depth. Post flop playability trumps all. I will call 56s HU, IP all day assuming decent stack depth.

PS: I'm not sure what your doing to get those equity numbers, but I'm pretty sure they aren't telling you what you think they're telling you. That said what they are really telling you is again, largely irrelevant.

I agree with para 1 & 3, however, I cannot understand logic in para 2. I am competing against V's range with my AQs. Flopping 2pr+ is ~20-1 & flush draw is ~8-1.

Again, I do not understand because we are competing vs. his range. If we get 4 other callers & the flop comes Q high [no jack] vs. V's JJ, he simply c/f vs. 5 opponents.

If those 4 have a range of 17%-20%, I have ~15.5% hot/cold equity to the river. If I called with 65s,, or 54s, I'd have ~ 20% equity & wouldn't be competing vs. V's range.

Assuming you're playing H/U, 1st 2 act on the button PF & call his raise? Or, being 1st to call on the button, with blinds yet to act?

I use the hot/cold equity calc [to the river] to determine if the pot is large enough PF to call to give me long term +Ev.

If V opens & gets 2 callers & I'm on the button with 65s, I have much less equity & putting a larger % of the money into the pot than if there were 4 callers.

With 4 callers, I have ~20% equity & putting in 16.6% of the money PF.
With 2 callers, I have ~22.5 equity & putting in 20.0% of the money PF. Not much of a difference. However, with fewer callers, there is <chance of me making money, because it's less likely someone hit the flop with me.

All things being equal [stack sizes, table dynamic, player tendencies, etc.] aren't you going to be happier to throw in $15 with your 54s on the button when 6 players call, rather than 4?

Full ring game, UTG opens, I'm on the BU.

My apologies, I missed the range you plugged in for the other hands in your earlier post and thought you were doing something weird.

My range vs. 2 callers and my range vs. 4 callers is pretty close. I think I'm playing the same SCs in both spots. Again, equity is not important to preflop decisions as long as there are decent stacks behind. The easy example here is small PPs vs. AA. You can make a killing taking PPs vs. AA despite being crushed equity wise pre. The value of a hand is determined by how it plays post flop. I can't overstate this enough.

I agree with the PP vs. AA. However, If I call $15.00 to see a flop, I have to believe I can make $150.00 minimum [10x my $15] with a medium pair & 12x for small pairs up thru 66.

The problem with the guy I am referring to is, if he has QQ & the flop comes K97 & I have 77, I am not going to make $150.00 off of him. He will put me on a king, not bet, call a small flop & maybe turn bet & that's it.

He will have no doubt that I did not call him with T8 or JT.

There has to be other players in the hand.

Because of the fact that our local casino only has 4/5 1/2NL games going during the week & everyone knows each other pretty much, you have to count on the weekends to make money off of SCs, unless the table is in a limpy mood.

You said you don't care about equity, but know you're crushed.

Was that a joke? Don't you think your equity has something to do with whether you're ahead or behind?

In fact, it's possible that the reason that he's crushed is that his equity is low. Shocker huh?

Do you really need to do an equity calculation to figure out that AQ is behind a range of JJ+/AK? My point was simply that equity calculations like the ones he posted should not be the basis for whether or not he calls. If I know a villain has a range of KK+ then I will often call with a very wide range of hands that have under 20% equity vs his range. The fact that they will only win a small percentage of the time does not necessarily make a preflop call -EV.

The issue with AQ in this spot would not be as much of an issue of equity as it would be an issue of reverse implied odds and playability postflop vs a very strong range.

Isn't it quite obvious what your adjustment should be?

If V is as predictable as you make him out to be, why would you only try to "cooler" him?

Come on, writing is on the wall.

To add to what RP is saying, if the guy won't put a dime in against you postflop without a huge hand, you should be bluffing him all the time and check/folding when he starts playing like he has a real hand (unless you have a draw that can beat his hand range)

Fwiw, a balanced range does not necessarily mean defense.

We can create a balanced range by adding bluffs to our betting range, and even go as far as manipulating sizing to achieve optimal EV.