Poker Equity

Basic Poker Math Skills

"Try to decide how good your hand is at a given moment. Nothing else matters. Nothing."
~ Doyle Brunson

The Importance of Poker Equity

Equity is an essential concept in learning the math of poker in Texas No-Limit Hold'em. By continually analyzing the worth of your current equity, you can make informed decisions on when to fold, call, bet, raise, or re-raise.

A primary goal in poker is to have money consistently flowing in your direction. Although an obvious statement, analyzing and making decisions based on sound equity concepts are key to insuring this occurs.

As with everything on this website, the math is a vital component, however it isn’t the only one. Using all the other information at the table coupled with the math is paramount to becoming a powerful player. Applying the math in a vacuum is a huge mistake.

In this section we will explore the two best know equities

Hand Equity
Fold Equity

We will also provide a reference for two other key equities that are crucial to good play.

Let's get started!

Hand Equity (Pot Equity)
Hand equity (sometimes called pot equity) is defined as your percentage probability of winning the pot at any given point in the hand. It is what theoretically belongs to you based on your cards at any point in the hand. It is your probability of success.

The Evolution of a Hand
To understand equity better and to give you a feel for how a typical hand evolves let’s review an example with multiple people in a pot. This is a fun exercise to explore how the equity of each hand changes before the flop, after the flop, after the turn and finally, after the river.

Note: You can’t know exactly what other players have. Yet, by observation over time you can determine the range of hands players might have. The complexity of determining what other players have increases significantly with more players in a hand.

Fold Equity
This is the equity a player can expect to gain due to an opponent folding to a bet, even if your opponent has the best hand at the time. Fold equity is a powerful reason why betting is so important.

Note: As an all-in move fold equity is especially powerful.

Fold equity isn’t an easy number to quantify. It will be based primarily on your perception on:

The type of opponent(s) you are up against (Loose aggressive, tight aggressive etc.)
What hands does your opponent(s) potentially have?
Whether your opponent(s) will lay down his/their hand(s) or not

It takes time, experience, patience as well as “trial and error” to determine. Betting the right amount (without betting too much) is both an art, and a science.

Moving Forward
There are two other key types of equity. They are:

Position Equity
Situation Equity

These powerful equities are described in the book: Mastering Poker Math.
It is available on Amazon.com!