What is pot equity?

[sexdrugsmoney]

I know, probably a helluva noob question to ask, but I see this term flung around and have no idea what it means.

Anyone care to enlighten me?

Cheers,
SDM

[mscags]

Someone can probably explain this better than I, but pot equity refers to your share of the pot. I can't give you a good example in stud so one in holdem will have to do. Say you flop a flush draw, your flush draw will come in about 1 in 3 times. This means your "pot equity" or what you are entitled to out of the pot is 1/3 of the pot. So if the pot was 6 BB your pot equity would be 2 BBs. This means that if you fold when you are getting correct odds to call you are giving up your share of the pot. This play would be -EV. Even if your flush missed on that individual draw you would still lose money on it overal. Same thing goes if you call when you are not getting the correct odds and hit your flush. Even though you hit it that time the play was -EV and you theoreticlly lost money. So any way pot equity refers to your share of the pot. Even though on almost every given pot there is only one person that gets it, actually they are only getting a % of the pot as long as others with correct odds are calling. This probably sounds really confusing, so maybe one of the vets can chime in. Am I close to the target with this?

[BeerMoney]

Scags has it right. Equity is just a fancy way of saying "Chances to win". In other words, if you ran your 3 cards against an opponents 3 cards on twodimes.net, and it shows you win 65% of the time, your equity is .65. As scags said, your pot equity would be [equity*size of the pot].

You also need to remember that your chances of improving to a certain hand are not the same as your chances of winning that hand.. You could hit and still lose... Or, you could win the pot another way.

We also figure in things like implied odds.. Bets we win on later streets + the size of the current pot.

[beta1607]

Also get Theory of Poker immediatly

[PoorLawyer]

[ QUOTE ]
Someone can probably explain this better than I, but pot equity refers to your share of the pot. I can't give you a good example in stud so one in holdem will have to do. Say you flop a flush draw, your flush draw will come in about 1 in 3 times. This means your "pot equity" or what you are entitled to out of the pot is 1/3 of the pot. So if the pot was 6 BB your pot equity would be 2 BBs. This means that if you fold when you are getting correct odds to call you are giving up your share of the pot. This play would be -EV. Even if your flush missed on that individual draw you would still lose money on it overal. Same thing goes if you call when you are not getting the correct odds and hit your flush. Even though you hit it that time the play was -EV and you theoreticlly lost money. So any way pot equity refers to your share of the pot. Even though on almost every given pot there is only one person that gets it, actually they are only getting a % of the pot as long as others with correct odds are calling. This probably sounds really confusing, so maybe one of the vets can chime in. Am I close to the target with this?

[/ QUOTE ]

I think the real important thing about equity is that, using your example, if you would normally win 1/3 of the time, you have an equity edge when there are 5 people calling a bet because you are only contributing 20% of the money in a pot you will win 33% of the time...these are the times you may want to consider pumping up the pot

[Coolidge]

A good way too roughly estimate your pot equity is using the "rule of 2 and 4". That is (in holdem), if you multiply you outs by 4 (on the flop), you will get a rough estimate of your pot equity. i.e.: say you have 4 to the nut flush. You have 9 outs. 9x4 = 36. You pot equity is appoximately 36%. Do the same on the turn, but multiply by 2.

This is good for Holdem...What is a good plan for Stud???

[sexdrugsmoney]

Many thanks guys, appreciated. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

Cheers,
SDM