EV of medium pp vs 2 or 3 callers

[dfan]

[ QUOTE ]
You want 1-2 or 5+ callers.

[/ QUOTE ]

I would have tended to agree with this, but now I'm not so sure after running pokerstove.

If you plug in limper with top 50% of hands, you with 77, and possible callers to your right playing top 33% of hands you get (assuming 1.5 bets from the blinds, plus 2 bets for each player that sees the flop):

2 players(limper,you)=5.5 bets x .57 equity = 3.14
3 plyrs(limp,you,1 cold caller)= 7.5 x .38=2.85
4 players(limp,you,2 ccs)=9.5 x .28=2.66
5 players(limp,you,3 cc's)=11.5 x .23= 2.65
6 players(limp,you,4 cc's)=13.5 x .20= 2.70

Got almost identical results when I gave the cold callers top 50% hand range.

So this suggests that your equity is almost the same whether there are 3, 4, or 5 callers.

Ooops, I just realized the problem with this analysis is that this it is based on showdown equity. Most of the 77 hands with 4 or more players won't reach the river. So never mind. [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

I'll post it anyway since I went to the work of computing it. Or in case an NL player wants to know if his/her chip EV changes when going All-In vs. 3, 4, or 5 callers. It doesn't, much. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[ohnonotthat]

You're correct. Medium pairs (77,88) do about as well against 3 random hands as against 5 if we disregard postflop action - i.e., if you are allin preflop.

I'll defer to your simulations in regard to the optimal number of opponents if all are playing top third, top half, etc. (I have never taken the time to run these sims).

If we DO factor in post-flop action my stats indicate a strong preference for a very small or very large field. Make no mistake, medium pairs play for profit against any number of opponents but they lose some value against medium sized fields (3 or 4 opponents).

Let's not overlook the fact that these hands do best against ZERO opponents; unless you're playing against imbeciles 77 will show it's greatest overall profit when it wins the blinds uncontested.