equity in fixed limit shorthanded

[LtJDangle911]

Sort of a generalized question:

how helpful can PokerStove equity calculations be for shorthanded fixed limit play?

are they only really a help pre-flop, or post-flop, or neither? I am not extremely educated on the subject of pot equity, but I feel like it's more geared towards NL all-in situations. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[sethypooh21]

[ QUOTE ]
Sort of a generalized question:

how helpful can PokerStove equity calculations be for shorthanded fixed limit play?

are they only really a help pre-flop, or post-flop, or neither? I am not extremely educated on the subject of pot equity, but I feel like it's more geared towards NL all-in situations. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[/ QUOTE ]

No, it's absolutely applicable, and I'd say vital - the biggest help is a street by street analysis of your equity given various scenarios - eg, you have A5hh in a 4 way raised pot, and flop comes Kx7h3h - determining your equity vs. general ranges of opponents holdings is going to be key in determining how you play the flop (unimproved, you're almost certainly just check-calling the turn if you don't improve, as even counting all your cards (aces and hearts) as outs, you don't have quite enough equity for pumping the pot to have +EV on the turn even if it stays 4 ways.

[Noir_Desir]

The problem is that you have a certain equity preflop against an opponents range, but may be unable to convert it because you have to fold (either you are forced to fold a better hand to a c-bet or you cant see all the cards to catch up because you dont get the odds). Thats where playability kicks in.
Stoxtrader mentions in his book that its better to defend Q7 vs a stealraise than K2, although its equity vs the stealer's range is worse. But with K2, you fold the best hand or see the showdown with the losing hand way more often.