Poker equity is something that every player has to understand in order to move ahead. Sure, your plays might not need equity at the beginning but you’ll need to understand it before you can become a pro. If you’re going to bet real cash for online games, then poker equity is really how you’re going to make your money. You have to embrace the mathematical side of poker in order to maximize profits. Really, it’s not as bad you might think it is. It’s just a matter of figuring out how likely you are to win. It’s all about calculations. If the calculations are on your side, you push. However, if the calculations just aren’t in your favor, you’re going to want to fold your cards. Even if you feel you have a monster hand like AA, it could swing the other way based on the cards you receive on the flop. Smart poker players don’t get committed to the cards — they get committed to the game.
Equity and betting for value go hand in hand. Let’s take everybody’s favorite hand, Big Slick (AK).
If you have AK on a board of A-9-2 (rainbow), you have to dig deeper than just these few bits of info. You might realize that raising preflop is a good idea. You need to do this in order to scare away junk hands. Junk cards take away from the type of money that you really do deserve to have. But that’s a topic for another day. If you raise preflop and two people go in with you, you have to think about the best hand you can make.
The flop coming down A-9-2 might make you excited. Top pair, with a good kicker. However, this is when you really need to be careful. Someone could have 9-2 (yes, some people keep garbage like this just in case of a freak board) and win against you. Be prepared to fold Big Slick or watch him get creamed.
Remember that sometimes people will play garbage, especially in lower stakes. To understand the value of the other person’s possible outs, you need to think from their point of view. Three sevens and two deuces represent their outs. The chances of your opponent outdrawing you for this hand would be 40-5, or 11% (40 of the remaining cards do him no good, but 5 of them actually do). The overall win chance is 19%. Don’t worry, this means that we actually have an 81% chance of winning as well.
For every dollar you get into the pot, you will get back 81% or 81 cents. This is powerful, and a good reason why poker players love calling stations — players that really do nothing except call bets. They get sucked in, providing amusement long after the hand has already been played. Betting and raising is correct because you’ll make back the money over time, multiple bets at a time.
Equity puts you in a position to play real poker rather than just playing poker from the gut. Why not practice a little more and see what difference it brings to your game?