Teaching Poker Equity
I should offer a ‘get out clause’ and say poker equity is a useful guide and over time will make you a profit if used wisely. However, it is not the be all and end all if you are a social player who plays once a week for fun.
After my awful Spring/Summer run I have decided to take time out and only the odd game to test my skill for reading peoples game. I am also reading some stuff on all aspects of the game as I need to sort out my long losing streak. Maybe I have lost touch on the new way of thinking about poker and how you play it. Even the masters of poker seem to be struggling in the new world of poker and although I am not an expert, maybe I have lost touch and need to re-focus.
These are many and the complication of thinking is multi-faceted. However the one thing that will remain constant is the maths behind poker will remain the same. It never changes because in a normal game of poker say Texas Hold Em there are 52 cards and the rules are rigid. Therefore, the maths remain unaltered who ever is in the game. It is how you employ the maths that is significant.
To use poker equity pre-flop check out the table in Rules and Strategy. However once in the game you will need to work out the pot equity by using the formula from flop to river % = 1 – [ ((47 – Outs) / 47) * ((46 – Outs) / 46) ] and while you are playing then you will need to follow the number of outs divided by number of remaining cards and the odds of the pot is must be less than the pot equity for you to call.
Now that is the general rule. However, everyone do not play by the general rule and in some cases (like what I used to do) deliberately mislead by playing irrational so as to confuse your opponent especially online. So due diligence needs to be done when using these guiding formulas.
If you want to be clever you can also include in the poker equity what you can get out of your opponent once you have completed your hand. For example, if you have a player who has a pair but also has a flush draw but the flush would be lower than yours then you can add into the equation that they will call a bet from yourself if you hit the flush even though you will beat them with a higher flush.