A question about Fold Equity

[thejameser]

in terms of the EV of a particular decision, is it quantifiable? i see the term used frequently, and i have in the past used it for what i thought it means. is it simply the equity you gain from folding a better hand or drawing hand that would be profitable in calling or at least a risk to draw out?

does this scenario exemplify fold equity:

Player A has a hand with 55% equity
Player B has a hand with 30% equity
Player C has a hand with 15% equity

if the betting pattern goes as such that a bet or raise from Player B will fold Player C, Player B will gain 1/2 of the 15% or 7.5% in equity from Player C folding. (super simplified example, no sharing of outs, etc. assumed, but i think it displays what i am trying to ask). is that the fold equity, or is it something else. it seems if it is along those lines, can it be calculated using the equity of hand ranges? or do you need the exact hand? i may be completely off base with everything here so i hope i am steered in the proper direction. i am afraid i may have been incorrectly using this term in numerous posts or even using it by luck, correctly in the proper context.

[thejameser]

uh, well i've never actually bumped or answered my own post before, but there is a first time for everything. am i totally wrong here or what? is fold equity just a term to describe the chance that a bet/raise will cause someone to fold in general? a casualy term that is not necessarily something you can calculate? this is either really boring, really stupid, or really simple so just let me know so i don't waste my time on it. i just need to know what is correct. once again, help is appreciated.

[Scotch78]

I always interpreted "folding equity" as your chance of all opponents folding.

Scott

[JojoDiego]

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uh, well i've never actually bumped or answered my own post before, but there is a first time for everything. am i totally wrong here or what? is fold equity just a term to describe the chance that a bet/raise will cause someone to fold in general? a casualy term that is not necessarily something you can calculate? this is either really boring, really stupid, or really simple so just let me know so i don't waste my time on it. i just need to know what is correct. once again, help is appreciated.

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I want to see answers to this, too. I'm also wondering where the term originated; I don't recall seeing it in the 2+2 books.

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I always interpreted "folding equity" as your chance of all opponents folding.

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Me too. If there is some chance that you will pick up the pot, then betting or raising a marginal hand becomes more profitable.

[thejameser]

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I always interpreted "folding equity" as your chance of all opponents folding.

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Me two. If there is some chance that you will pick up the pot, then betting or raising a marginal hand becomes more profitable.

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so is it a corollary to a semibluff or a total bluff? that is, you have little or no pot equity but this is compensated by the fact that you have a chance to win the pot through aggression? is it only in reference to winning a pot uncontested or can it be applied to INCREASING appreciably your chance to win a pot.

I think you are blending the advantage of this concept with protecting your hand. Being able to push an edge that forces an opponent to make a bad fold or a bad call is protecting your hand. Fold equity is the chance that all your opponents will fold, leave you with the pot.

[suited aces]

My understanding is that the term refers to the likelihood of all other players folding.

This is an incredibly oversimplified example, but for instance: if you raise pre-flop with ace/queen, get one or two callers, and the flop comes K72 (rainbow); then your bet would have a lot of fold equity, i.e., you're not getting called much (at least by decent players).

By contrast (and again, oversimplified), you limp in on the button after six players limp to you, the small blind completes, the big blind checks, and the flop comes AJT -- even if everyone checks to you, you have no fold equity, i.e., this flop hit somebody and you're getting called or raised almost all of the time.

Someone let me know if this is off-base.

[hobbsmann]

fold equity is measured in big bets, but it is often talked about in terms of a percentage. For example, say you are HU on the turn in a 6 bb pot with a flush draw + straight draw. Currently you have the worst hand, but you suspect your opponents hand is a fairly marginal and he will fold to your raise some x% of the time. Well in terms of EV your turn raise is -EV as your draws will net 15/47*(3bb)-(1-15/47)*(2bb) = ~-0.37 bb, assuming 1 bb of implied odds. But, we can quantify FE as a third term in our EV equation that nets us the whole pot the times our opponent folds. So in the above example -0.37bb + x*(6bb) = 0, solving for x = 6%. So in this example if the villain folds to our turn raise more than 6% of the time our play is +EV.

[thejameser]

thanks Hobbs; the quantification was my question.