Equity

[springb0ks]

I here so much about equity in books and people on the internet, especially for SNG's. Can someone give a quick rundown on what this is, and whether equity calculations can be made in game? Or is it something we use to analyse our game after playing, and reviewing our hand histories?

Thanks

[pzhon]

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I here so much about equity in books and people on the internet, especially for SNG's. Can someone give a quick rundown on what this is, and whether equity calculations can be made in game? Or is it something we use to analyse our game after playing, and reviewing our hand histories?

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Equity means the expected value of something. It can refer to your expected share of the pot if there is no more betting, or your expected share of the prize money in a tournament.

SNGs may be mentioned because push or fold decisions are very common in SNGs, so you might see someone say that they have 45% equity against a tight calling range. Equity may also be mentioned because the single table tournament prize structures reward making the money much more than in other tournaments relative to winning, which means the chips do not all have the same value. An imperfect but useful tool for estimating your tournament equity from the stack sizes is the Independent Chip Model (ICM).

In general, you can't perform a complicated equity calculation of either type at the table. You study situations ahead of time, and make an educated guess while you play.

[springb0ks]

Thanks. Are ICM calculators any good for whilst playing? Lets say im playing in a SnG, and i have A-10 suited, one player pushes all in everyone else folds. Can i put stack sizes into the calculate to check my equity, and then use that to decide whether to call or not?

If you can do this, what is a "good equity" figure, which would make this call worthwhile?

Thanks.

[basementproject]

It's really not practical to be loading info into an ICM prog. while playing a game.

#1 You won't have time.
#2 You'll start to rely on the thing so much that you'll hinder your progress as a player.

Analyze your hands and plays AFTER a session, calculate whatever you want/need to then. After studying the figures, you'll start to intuitively know what lines to take in certain situations.

[SellingtheDrama]

[ QUOTE ]
It's really not practical to be loading info into an ICM prog. while playing a game.

#1 You won't have time.
#2 You'll start to rely on the thing so much that you'll hinder your progress as a player.

Analyze your hands and plays AFTER a session, calculate whatever you want/need to then. After studying the figures, you'll start to intuitively know what lines to take in certain situations.

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Agreed - do your poker homework between/after sessions. Apply what you learn during them. Your best guess is generally all you have time for. If you can, make a note of the hand on a piece of paper as one to review later (this is what I did - I'd tag a handful of hands while 4 tabling (generally the hole cards TT, ATo, AKs, etc) and find the hand in PokerTracker later.

[basementproject]

To add to Sell's post above, I always keep a notepad handy when I'm playing a session. If I run into any interesting situations I don't really know how to handle, or think I could have handled better, I write down the hand #.

At the end of every poker day I print out a summary, including the PT summary screen, the PT positional stats screen, the session summary screen and some key hands. The key hands I'll print out include the ones I jotted down on the pad, and my biggest losing hands for each table that PT shows me. These all go in a big binder. It's important to keep good records when you're trying to move up stakes, or improve at all.

I'll go through each hand, and on the printed HH I will (at least attempt to) make calculations and evaluate my play.

When I first started doing this, it just seemed like a huge pain in the ass- I do enough math in Econometrics class. But it really forces you to think about your game on a deeper level, and although you might not realize it in the moment, your understanding of poker will increase tenfold, and quite rapidly as well.

[MikeBandy]

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Equity means the expected value of something.

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No, not really. Equity refers to the value of your ownership in property. For example, if the market value of your house is $100,000, but you owe the bank $30,000, you have a $70,000 equity.

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It can refer to your expected share of the pot if there is no more betting, or your expected share of the prize money in a tournament.

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Precisely, but relative to the meaning of equity, the key word is share. Also, I guess my first paragraph was nitpicky.

Pzhon, I really appreciate the time you invest in answering questions. I've learned a lot from you.

[springb0ks]

Guys, what would a good equity value be, in order to make a call to someone who has moved all in or something? How does one deduce that the call is correct based on the equity?

Thanks

[basementproject]

An easy way to calculate your equity in a situation is the following:

(% equity)*(pot size)

For instance, Johnny holds a hand on the flop that gives him 75% equity. In other words, the pot is 75% his, he wins it 75% of the time (longrun styles). The pot is 200 dollars.

(.75)*($200)=$150

Johnny's pot equity is $150.

On the turn, Johnny's equity remains the same, and his opponent makes a $100 dollar bet. Since Johnny's equity is greater than the bet, he is getting good value for his money. He will call.

If the opponent made a $200 bet, Johnny would fold, as the play would no longer be profitable.


Hope this helped.

And phzon, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

[pzhon]

[ QUOTE ]

For instance, Johnny holds a hand on the flop that gives him 75% equity. The pot is 200 dollars. Johnny's pot equity is $150.

On the turn, Johnny's equity remains the same, and his opponent makes a $100 dollar bet. Since Johnny's equity is greater than the bet, he is getting good value for his money. He will call.

If the opponent made a $200 bet, Johnny would fold, as the play would no longer be profitable.


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Sorry, this is wrong. The size of the pot to use is the size after a call. That would be

$200 initial pot +
$200 bet +
$200 call
=
$600.

If you win $600 75% of the time, your share is $450, which is much greater than the $200 cost of the call. When you are the favorite heads-up, you can call any amount all-in, since your share of the new pot will always be larger than the amount of your call.