Pot Equity???

It would be really helpful to get a few more explanations of “Pot Equity”. I have just read about “Pot Equity” in SSH, but I don’t fully understand this. So again, I ask for your help!

Thanks

I think in SSH they are saying Pot Equity is related to Pot Odds. They are both used to decide if you wanna stay in the hand.

Example, you are drawing to an 8 out straight. You are 4:1 to make it on the river. On the turn there is $500 in the pot. Your pot equity is $100, since you stand to win 1/5 of the time.

In my opinion the Pot Odds are the Strong Force used to make your decision. E.g. if you have horrible pot odds then fold, if you have great odds then call or raise.

Pot equity is more of a Weak Force that you use when the Pot odds are marginal (e.g. a break even, exactly four to one and you are drawing to an openend straight). Then you analyze the pot equity to see if its worth it to make the marginal call. The pot equity is basically how much of the pot you stand to WIN, on average, so if you stand to win a lot then you would be more compelled to make a marginal call, if you have very little equity, then you might laydown in a marginally profitable situation.

Thats straight out of my ass, and I just got past that section in SSH.

I'd like to hear what the FTR vets think of this.

Pot odds in most commonly used when to determine wether you either call or fold to a bet or a raise. It takes into consideration how many outs you have compared to the size of the pot. I guess you know this stuff. Pot Equity is another matter; Pot Equity is the calculated value for your hand compared to your opponents range of hands. To illustrate this I will show an example of how to use pot equity. Lets say that you are sitting in a fixed limit holdem game where four people has limped in and you are sitting on the button with AJs. If you should raise with AJs instead of calling, you need to ask yourself why. One argument for raising could be that you build a nice pot for a hand that does well multiway. On the other hand, you may not want to raise because you want to make it easier to protect your hand when you hit top pair. This is simple game strategy, but lets look at your expected value.

When four guys limps in it is fair to believe AJs to be a far stronger hand compared to your opponents range of hands. In other words your pot equity are greater than 4 to 1 and because of your higher expected value you should consider raising the hand. It may make it harder to play the flop or it may not. However if you believe that your equity is greather than 20% (and it most certainly is) raising for value earns you the most money in the long run. Pot Equity should not be confused with pot odds. Pot Equity is most commonly used when you determine the actual strenght of your hand at the moment and are deciding about the proper action given your estimated winrate. I think it is very well explained in Small Stakes Holdem so you might want to look it up again, I do believe that the concept is very useful.

Thanks Noctoz, I thought this post was dead in the water.


After reading your explanation and then going back and reading Pot Equity again in SSH has helped me grasp this concept a little more, but I still don’t have it down 100%. Like you and Renton I just don’t see how it is that important or a strong force.