What is equity? - Beginning Poker Questions

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What is equity?

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08-27-2009 , 06:47 PM

sevendeuc24

old hand

Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 1,675

I know what fold equity is, but what about those long numbers or when someone says his equity sucks.

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08-27-2009 , 06:47 PM

SELFMADE

banned

Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 641

yeah I wonder too

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08-27-2009 , 07:04 PM

ItsMyShow

veteran

Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 2,038

its the ammount of money your expected to earn/lose in the long run

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08-27-2009 , 07:09 PM

Ksight3

Carpal \'Tunnel

Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 15,464

Quote:

Originally Posted by ItsMyShow

its the ammount of money your expected to earn/lose in the long run

This.

In a simpler sense, it's your "share" of the pot.

i.e. let's assume you hold AA vs an opponent's 22, and you're all-in pre-flop.

You are expected to win 82% of the time, so 82% of what's in the pot is "yours". (So in the quoted terms, if this happened 1000 times, you would expect to win 820 times, and lose 180)

Fold equity, is the equity or "your share of the pot" that you gain by having your opponent fold a better hand.

i.e. if you hold KJ on a A92 board, and you're opponent bets, you can raise and you would expect to fold out hands like 88 which has you beat, and so you are increasing your share of the pot against his range of hands.

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08-27-2009 , 11:38 PM

statmanhal

Pooh-Bah

Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 5,093

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ksight3

This.

Fold equity, is the equity or "your share of the pot" that you gain by having your opponent fold a better hand.

Fold equity doesn't have to be against a better hand. It is the probability that your opponent will fold if you bet or raise which turns out to be your percentage 'share' of the current pot.

Equity is equivalent to the probability of winning the hand if you call a bet or you bet and your opponent calls. Therefore it represents your share of the pot after additional bets are made which can include future bets or implied odds.

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08-28-2009 , 06:34 AM

bumblebee99

Badugi Ninja

Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 10,997

the beginners faq has an easy to unnerstand explanation. number 22

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08-28-2009 , 06:36 AM

Superhal

adept

Join Date: Aug 2009 Posts: 846

It's pot odds that include the likely chance of getting additional calls on value bets if you make your hand.

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08-28-2009 , 06:44 AM

Bad Beat Wizard

adept

Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 808

imagine if you ran the same hand an infinite number of times. how much you end up with per hand on average is your equity.

now out of those hands, if you filter only the hands where you go to showdown with your opponent, thats ur showdown equity

if u filter only the hands where your opponent folds, thats your fold equity

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08-28-2009 , 06:13 PM

gedanken

Carpal \'Tunnel

Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 6,283

Quote:

Originally Posted by statmanhal

huh? but no.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Superhal

It's pot odds that include the likely chance of getting additional calls on value bets if you make your hand.

no.

other definitions are mostly good. equity is the fraction of the current pot you expect to win, on average. you are probably seeing pokerstove quotes. pokerstove is a tool for calculating equity based on known cards or a range of cards. www.pokerstove.com

folding equity is not precisely defined for the way most people on this forum use the term.

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08-28-2009 , 08:08 PM

#10

statmanhal

Pooh-Bah

Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 5,093

I stand by my definition -- equity = win probability. The amount you win depends on what you are using equity for. My assumption is that equity or win probability (or card odds or hand odds) are primarily used in EV calculations for decision making. If so, then it could be used for estimating the share of the current pot (e.g., an all-in decision or river bet) but might include future bets for implied odds if that is the situation.

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08-28-2009 , 10:23 PM

#11

gedanken

Carpal \'Tunnel

Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 6,283

Quote:

Originally Posted by statmanhal

I stand by my definition -- equity = win probability.

yes, this is correct (mostly). I must be confused about what you are trying to say otherwise.

I say mostly, because some of your equity comes from ties, which is not winning exactly. [/nit]

you'll have to show an example where it includes expected/future bets. I haven't seen that. For clarity, people sometimes specify "pot equity", which is your share of the current pot.

here's a pokerstove example:

Quote:

Text results appended to pokerstove.txt

990 games 0.005 secs 198,000 games/sec

Board: 3c 4h 5c
Dead:

equity win tie pots won pots tied
Hand 0: 31.818% 00.00% 31.82% 0 315.00 { 7s6s }
Hand 1: 68.182% 36.36% 31.82% 360 315.00 { 7c6c }

76s with spades can't win outright, but has 32% equity in the pot because of ties. 76s with clubs isn't winning 68% of the time, but when he ties he still gets half the pot, so his equity is 68%.

Last edited by gedanken; 08-28-2009 at 10:28 PM.

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08-31-2009 , 12:31 PM

#12

Panik

grinder

Join Date: Aug 2009 Posts: 470

so how do you use equity to make decisions?

If your equity in a hand is 34%, does that mean you should only bet or call up to 34% of the pot?

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