Equity

This is a mathematical concept that represents a player's expected share of the pot based on the likelihood of winning the hand. It quantifies a player's chances of winning a hand at a particular point in the game, taking into account their current hand and the community cards. Equity is expressed as a percentage and helps players make strategic decisions, such as whether to call, bet, or fold. It's a crucial tool for assessing the strength of a hand and making informed decisions in poker.

2 players are all-in, the Player A holds a pair of Kings, while Player B has a pair of 7s.
The Player A has 80% chance of winning the hand.
With a total pot of 1000, Player A's expected winnings would be 800.

Numerous tools are available today to assist in calculating poker equity, but it's essential to have the ability to do it manually. This skill is crucial. Beyond memorizing the winning probabilities for typical matchups, it's valuable to calculate the remaining cards that could enhance your hand.

1. Determine the number of outs to potential hands you could make.
2. Establish the number of possible outcomes: 50 preflop, 47 post-flop, and 46 at the turn.
3. Calculate your equity by dividing the number of outs by the total possible outcomes and multiplying the result by 100.

A player holds 2♥2♥, and the board displays 2♥2♥2♥2♥.
With one card needed to complete a flush (five cards of the same suit) and the possibility of obtaining a pair (either an Ace or a 4), the player counts the remaining cards:

• For the flush draw, there are 13 cards of each suit, with 4 already shown. Thus, 9 cards in the deck remain to complete the flush.
• For the pair draw, considering Aces and 4s, 3 Aces and 3 4s are yet to be revealed.

Therefore, to fulfill either the pair draw or the flush draw, the player has a total of 9 (flush) + 3 (Aces) + 3 (4s) outs, totaling 15 outs. As it's the turn, there are 46 remaining cards in the deck. The chance of winning the hand is approximately 15/46 ≈ 32%.

This trick works only on flop or on turn, but, it saves you from more complex maths: Once you've identified the number of outs for potential hands, you can quickly estimate the probabilities of winning:

• On the flop: Multiply the outs by 4.
• On the turn: Multiply the outs by 2.

For a more detailed exploration of outs and odds calculation, click the button below.

Now that you've mastered the calculation of your hand's equity, you can apply this knowledge to make well-informed decisions. Pay careful attention to the pot size and consider what percentage of it your required call represents.

For instance, if making a call means adding 200 chips to a pot of 1000 chips, the share of the call is 20%. To make a profitable long-term call, you'd need at least a 16% chance of winning the hand, indicating that you should consider calling only if you have at least 8 outs.

Pot Equity = (1 / ((Pot size / Amount to call) + 1)) * 100
Pot Equity = (1 / ((1000 / 200) + 1)) * 100
Pot Equity ≈ 16%