Three Common Misconceptions

I've got something fun for you guys to think about. A conversation with a friend led to some of these misconceptions being brought up. I'm going to point them out because I want to put some emphasis on thinking things through logically instead of always trying to adhere to some set of rules that you learn. Basically, don't be lazy with your thinking.

Misconception #1: Poker hand strengths are transitive.

Transitive means if a > b and b > c, then a > c. In poker, this isn't always the case with hand strengths. Pre-flop in no-limit hold'em, for example, 22 > AKo and AKo > JTs. You would expect that 22 > JTs, but JTs actually has about 54% equity there.

Misconception #2: Basic algebra is not required to learn poker.

Wah wah, math is hard, wah wah. You can't make EV equations to model situations to figure out the best plays in marginal spots without basic algebra. You also cannot figure out ways to balance your play without basic algebra. Sure, you can learn some set strategy based on hard rules that you'll never question, and you might end up beating 10nl or 25nl, but your progress is going to be slow, and it's going to be that much harder to learn these things when you get to the upper end of the micros.

Misconception #3: You need >50% equity against a calling range to make a +EV value bet or raise.

If you're going all-in, you actually need more of a 1/n chance of winning where n is the number of players in the pot after everyone calls your bet, including yourself. If you shove and two people call, you only need 33.3%+ equity. If you're not going all-in, then you actually need more than 50% in most cases because you can get raised off of your hand.

Anyway, I thought I'd put that in post form since those three ideas don't really belong anywhere else. Carry on.

Related to #3, we should also take rake into account when we calculate the equity we need to value bet or call.

Rake makes several % difference in the equity you need to bet or call. Of course, you always need more equity than if there was no rake...

Great points Spoon. I think the main point I took from it is that knowing why you're doing something, not just doing it based on a hard rule, is super important.