Pot Equity??
 

I tried to run some searches but didn't get anything valuable. I've read a lot of books on poker but have never found anything on pot equity and when/where you use it. I don't even know how to figure it out. Please explain. Thanx.

Re: Pot Equity??
 

It is the fraction of the pot that a hand will win on average over many repeated trials.

Look at:
http://pokerstove.com/pokerstove/

Shadow

Re: Pot Equity??
 

Example:

You have A5s on the button. UTG, you and both blinds see the flop for one bet. You flop a nut flush draw. SB bets, BB and UTG call. What do you do and why?

Here's where the pot equity enters the picture. You have a 35% chance to make your flush with two cards to come. If we assume you won't be beaten by a house or quads, this means that your pot equity is 35% and that you therefore own 35% of the pot at this moment and also 35% of all the money that enters the pot on the flop.

On the flop, your 3 opponents have all put one bet in the pot, which now contains 7 small bets. You obviously have sufficient pot odds (7 : 1) to draw to the nut flush, but you can do better than that, since a raise is highly +EV.

Here's why:

If you raise, all your opponents will probably call. By raising you have invested one extra bet (compared to just calling) to get 4 extra bets in the pot. Because of the nut flush draw you "own" 35% of these extra bets, which amounts to 1.4 small bets. But you only invested 1 bet. Therefore, by raising you have earned 0.40 small bets.

The point here is that the pot equity of your hand is 35%, while you contribute only 25% of the money if you get 4 extra bets in the pot by raising. Even if only 2 opponents call, you have still made money. With 2 callers you contribute 33% of the dough, which is less than the pot equity of 35%, so you make money also in this case.

(Btw, raising and reraising a flush draw with 2 or more callers on the flop is "pumping the flush draw". You've probably heard this expression.)

olavfo

P.S. Remember that the nut flush will sometimes be beaten by a house or quads. So your pot equity is a little less than 35% in reality, but if the bord is not paired on the flop, you shouldn't worry too much about that.