I was wondering if ev could be explained better. I understand ev is the amount of money a certain play expects to win or lose on average and that I should be looking to make plays that are obviously +ev. I also understand variance and i am not talking about plays such as sets over sets or KKs in pre versus AAs.

However when I look back through my hand histories I am seeing winning hands being -ev plays and losing hands being +ev plays. While I am naive enough to think every decision I am making is correct I certainly dont think the majority are wrong. I have posted a specific hand history to give an example.

Hand 1 winning hands that are said to be -ev.

Full Tilt Poker $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

MP: $36.53
Hero (CO): $45.86
BTN: $50.02
SB: $35.03
BB: $36.63
UTG: $25.00

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is CO with K K
UTG raises to $0.85, MP calls $0.85, Hero raises to $3.75, 3 folds, UTG raises to $25 all in, 1 fold, Hero calls $21.25

Flop: ($51.20) 3 Q 3

Turn: ($51.20) 4

River: ($51.20) 5

The villain actually had JJs and it is said to be $-8.98ev.

I'm pretty sure it says the EV difference is -$8.89 aka you won $8.89 more than you would on average. This doesn't mean it's -EV because your EV = 25-8.89 = positive number

Ok thanks. Be interesting to see if anyone can comfirm this.

Thanks again

Well you can confirm this yourself, be sure to check the column '$ EV' (or something) instead of 'EV $ diff'

an easy example, AA vs KK is approx 80/20, 100$ pot, so when you win you run 20$ above EV since you win 80 on average, thus -20$ in "ev diff), when you lose you run 80 below EV, so +80 in ev diff

What program are you using?

Every one is right - you're confusing EV difference with the actual EV of your hand. If you actually lost the KK v JJ hand, the EV difference would be about +41, but the EV would be the same (about 16)

In other words, every time you win a hand, you're running above expectation (won more than EV tells you you should expect) and every time you lose a hand you're running below expectation.

Firstly thanks for all the replies. Sorry for the late reply, I have been away for a few days.

I am using HEM. Also I am talking about ev difference. I didnt loose the KKs vs JJs hand, I won it, but ev difference said it was -ev. But why is KKs (80%) holding against (JJs) 20% shown as -ev in the ev difference column on HEM?

the expected value of KK v JJ is 81% of the pot (you are an 81% favorite to win the hand). when the hand is over, you either won 100% of the pot or 0% of the pot. given the situation, you are only supposed to win 81% of the time as opposed to the 100% of the pot you won so you have a -19% difference in expected value in the hand. so your ev is -19% of the pot you won

Ok thanks, so its not something I should be worried about?

Don't fold KK pre or think about it. Please read the new user's guide.

There's threads in the stickies where ev is explained.