Is equity all there is to it?

[J. Stew]

Party Poker 0.50/1 Hold'em (10 handed) converter

Preflop: Hero is UTG+2 with Q[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], K[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]. CO posts a blind of $0.50.
<font color="#666666">2 folds</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises</font>, MP1 calls, <font color="#666666">4 folds</font>, SB calls, <font color="#666666">1 fold</font>.

Flop: (8 SB) 6[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], 8[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], T[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(3 players)</font>
SB checks, <font color="#CC3333">Hero bets</font>, MP1 calls, <font color="#CC3333">SB raises</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero 3-bets</font>, MP1 folds, <font color="#CC3333">SB caps</font>, Hero calls.

Ok I ran pokerstove against one opponent, since I figured Mp1 would fold with two back to him, giving SB a range of the top 17% of possible hands, which I estimated from how often he coldcalls. Am I right so far? Then I ran it and got an equity of 54.5% for me and 45.5% for him.

So am I justified in betting and raising the flop because my equity is larger than his and that's basically all there is to it? Putting an opponent on a range of hands then adjusting it to how he plays each street and re-estimating the equity along the way?

Turn: (8.50 BB) A[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
<font color="#CC3333">SB bets</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises</font>, SB calls.

River: (12.50 BB) J[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
SB checks, <font color="#CC3333">Hero bets</font>, SB calls.

Final Pot: 14.50 BB