Equity In Poker How To Calculate

In our poker math and probability lesson it was stated that when it comes to poker; “the math is essential“. Although you don’t need to be a math genius to play poker, a solid understanding of probability will serve you well and knowing the odds is what it’s all about in poker. It has also been said that in poker, there are good bets and bad bets. The game just determines who can tell the difference. That statement relates to the importance of knowing and understanding the math of the game.

Step 1: Calculate the required equity. Your required equity is how often you will need to win the pot at showdown in order to make a call profitable. Required equity = price of calling / (pot size + price of calling) Price of calling: The difference between your last raise and the all-in. Pot size: All the money you can win. Your raises, your.

In this lesson, we’re going to focus on drawing odds in poker and how to calculate your chances of hitting a winning hand. We’ll start with some basic math before showing you how to correctly calculate your odds. Don’t worry about any complex math – we will show you how to crunch the numbers, but we’ll also provide some simple and easy shortcuts that you can commit to memory.

1. Before you can begin to calculate your poker odds you need to know your “outs”. An out is a card which will make your hand. For example, if you are on a flush draw with four hearts in your hand, then there will be nine hearts (outs) remaining in the deck to give you a flush. Remember there are thirteen cards in a suit, so this is easily.
2. Equity in poker is the share of the pot that is yours based on the odds that you will win the pot at that point in play. Equity changes after each street – pre-flop, flop, turn and river.

Basic Math – Odds and Percentages

Odds can be expressed both “for” and “against”. Let’s use a poker example to illustrate. The odds against hitting a flush when you hold four suited cards with one card to come is expressed as approximately 4-to-1. This is a ratio, not a fraction. It doesn’t mean “a quarter”. To figure the odds for this event simply add 4 and 1 together, which makes 5. So in this example you would expect to hit your flush 1 out of every 5 times. In percentage terms this would be expressed as 20% (100 / 5).

Here are some examples:

• 2-to-1 against = 1 out of every 3 times = 33.3%
• 3-to-1 against = 1 out of every 4 times = 25%
• 4-to-1 against = 1 out of every 5 times= 20%
• 5-to-1 against = 1 out of every 6 times = 16.6%

Converting odds into a percentage:

• 3-to-1 odds: 3 + 1 = 4. Then 100 / 4 = 25%
• 4-to-1 odds: 4 + 1 = 5. Then 100 / 5 = 20%

Converting a percentage into odds:

• 25%: 100 / 25 = 4. Then 4 – 1 = 3, giving 3-to-1 odds.
• 20%: 100 / 20 = 5. Then 5 – 1 = 4, giving 4-to-1 odds.

Another method of converting percentage into odds is to divide the percentage chance when you don’t hit by the percentage when you do hit. For example, with a 20% chance of hitting (such as in a flush draw) we would do the following; 80% / 20% = 4, thus 4-to-1. Here are some other examples:

• 25% chance = 75 / 25 = 3 (thus, 3-to-1 odds).
• 30% chance = 70 / 30 = 2.33 (thus, 2.33-to-1 odds).

Some people are more comfortable working with percentages rather than odds, and vice versa. What’s most important is that you fully understand how odds work, because now we’re going to apply this knowledge of odds to the game of poker.

The right kind of practice between sessions can make a HUGE difference at the tables. That’s why this workbook has a 5-star rating on Amazon and keeps getting reviews like this one: “I don’t consider myself great at math in general, but this work is helping things sink in and I already see things more clearly while playing.”

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Counting Your Outs

Before you can begin to calculate your poker odds you need to know your “outs”. An out is a card which will make your hand. For example, if you are on a flush draw with four hearts in your hand, then there will be nine hearts (outs) remaining in the deck to give you a flush. Remember there are thirteen cards in a suit, so this is easily worked out; 13 – 4 = 9.

Another example would be if you hold a hand like and hit two pair on the flop of . You might already have the best hand, but there’s room for improvement and you have four ways of making a full house. Any of the following cards will help improve your hand to a full house; .

The following table provides a short list of some common outs for post-flop play. I recommend you commit these outs to memory:

Table #1 – Outs to Improve Your Hand

The next table provides a list of even more types of draws and give examples, including the specific outs needed to make your hand. Take a moment to study these examples:

Table #2 – Examples of Drawing Hands (click to enlarge)

Counting outs is a fairly straightforward process. You simply count the number of unknown cards that will improve your hand, right? Wait… there are one or two things you need to consider:

Don’t Count Outs Twice

There are 15 outs when you have both a straight and flush draw. You might be wondering why it’s 15 outs and not 17 outs, since there are 8 outs to make a straight and 9 outs for a flush (and 8 + 9 = 17). The reason is simple… in our example from table #2 the and the will make a flush and also complete a straight. These outs cannot be counted twice, so our total outs for this type of draw is 15 and not 17.

Anti-Outs and Blockers

There are outs that will improve your hand but won’t help you win. For example, suppose you hold on a flop of . You’re drawing to a straight and any two or any seven will help you make it. However, the flop also contains two hearts, so if you hit the or the you will have a straight, but could be losing to a flush. So from 8 possible outs you really only have 6 good outs.

It’s generally better to err on the side of caution when assessing your possible outs. Don’t fall into the trap of assuming that all your outs will help you. Some won’t, and they should be discounted from the equation. There are good outs, no-so good outs, and anti-outs. Keep this in mind.

Calculating Your Poker Odds

Once you know how many outs you’ve got (remember to only include “good outs”), it’s time to calculate your odds. There are many ways to figure the actual odds of hitting these outs, and we’ll explain three methods. This first one does not require math, just use the handy chart below:

How To Calculate Pot Equity In Poker

Table #3 – Poker Odds Chart

As you can see in the above table, if you’re holding a flush draw after the flop (9 outs) you have a 19.1% chance of hitting it on the turn or expressed in odds, you’re 4.22-to-1 against. The odds are slightly better from the turn to the river, and much better when you have both cards still to come. Indeed, with both the turn and river you have a 35% chance of making your flush, or 1.86-to-1.

We have created a printable version of the poker drawing odds chart which will load as a PDF document (in a new window). You’ll need to have Adobe Acrobat on your computer to be able to view the PDF, but this is installed on most computers by default. We recommend you print the chart and use it as a source of reference. It should come in very handy.

Doing the Math – Crunching Numbers

There are a couple of ways to do the math. One is complete and totally accurate and the other, a short cut which is close enough.

Let’s again use a flush draw as an example. The odds against hitting your flush from the flop to the river is 1.86-to-1. How do we get to this number? Let’s take a look…

With 9 hearts remaining there would be 36 combinations of getting 2 hearts and making your flush with 5 hearts. This is calculated as follows:

(9 x 8 / 2 x 1) = (72 / 2) ≈ 36.

This is the probability of 2 running hearts when you only need 1 but this has to be figured. Of the 47 unknown remaining cards, 38 of them can combine with any of the 9 remaining hearts:

9 x 38 ≈ 342.

Now we know there are 342 combinations of any non heart/heart combination. So we then add the two combinations that can make you your flush:

36 + 342 ≈ 380.

The total number of turn and river combos is 1081 which is calculated as follows:

(47 x 46 / 2 x 1) = (2162 / 2) ≈ 1081.

Now you take the 380 possible ways to make it and divide by the 1081 total possible outcomes:

380 / 1081 = 35.18518%

This number can be rounded to .352 or just .35 in decimal terms. You divide .35 into its reciprocal of .65:

0.65 / 0.35 = 1.8571428

And voila, this is how we reach 1.86. If that made you dizzy, here is the short hand method because you do not need to know it to 7 decimal points.

The Rule of Four and Two

A much easier way of calculating poker odds is the 4 and 2 method, which states you multiply your outs by 4 when you have both the turn and river to come – and with one card to go (i.e. turn to river) you would multiply your outs by 2 instead of 4.

Imagine a player goes all-in and by calling you’re guaranteed to see both the turn and river cards. If you have nine outs then it’s just a case of 9 x 4 = 36. It doesn’t match the exact odds given in the chart, but it’s accurate enough.

What about with just one card to come? Well, it’s even easier. Using our flush example, nine outs would equal 18% (9 x 2). For a straight draw, simply count the outs and multiply by two, so that’s 16% (8 x 2) – which is almost 17%. Again, it’s close enough and easy to do – you really don’t have to be a math genius.

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Conclusion

In this lesson we’ve covered a lot of ground. We haven’t mentioned the topic of pot odds yet – which is when we calculate whether or not it’s correct to call a bet based on the odds. This lesson was step one of the process, and in our pot odds lesson we’ll give some examples of how the knowledge of poker odds is applied to making crucial decisions at the poker table.

As for calculating your odds…. have faith in the tables, they are accurate and the math is correct. Memorize some of the common draws, such as knowing that a flush draw is 4-to-1 against or 20%. The reason this is easier is that it requires less work when calculating the pot odds, which we’ll get to in the next lesson.

By Tom 'TIME' Leonard

Tom has been writing about poker since 1994 and has played across the USA for over 40 years, playing every game in almost every card room in Atlantic City, California and Las Vegas.

Calculating pot odds is a basic skill that most poker players learn soon after they take up the game. Almost all introductory poker books feature a section on pot odds, but they don’t go into too much depth. The truth is that pot odds and equity calculations are at the heart of being a successful poker player and if you wanted to, you could write a book on the subject. In fact, Bill Chen did just that; his book The Mathematics of Poker doesn’t make for light reading though. In this article we’ll go a little beyond the basics of pot odds, but not far enough so that you’ll have to stop and get a PhD in math to continue half way through.

The Basics of Pot Odds

Poker is a game of betting, and all betting revolves around odds. If your opponent bets $100 into a $100 pot, then you have to put in $100 to call. This means you’re risking $100 to win $200, representing odds of 2/1. To figure out if a call is profitable, you need to convert the odds on offer to an implied chance of winning. To do this, you simply add the numerator (above the line, 2 in this case) and the denominator (below the line, 1 in this case) and put the denominator above the sum giving you 1/3, or a 33% chance. Taking another example, let’s say your opponent bets $30 into a $70 pot, meaning you must risk $30 to win $100, so your odds are 100/30. Following the same formula as last time, we end up with 30/130, an implied chance of 23%.

So how does this relate to the cards in your hand? The gravest mistake that bad poker players make is continuing with their hand when the pot odds dictate that they should fold. Again, the easiest way to illustrate this is with an example:

Say you’re playing a tournament and you’re holding 7h8h and there are 5000 chips in the pot on the flop which reads AhTs2h and your opponent goes all in for 5,000 chips. When your opponent bets the size of the pot, we found out already that this gives you odds of 2/1 and you need a 33% chance of winning for you to justify continuing with the hand. If you’re certain than your opponent holds AK in this spot then you know that a flush will beat him if you make it.

If you know how to count outs and how the rule of 2 and 4 works, you’ll know that your flush draw has about a 36% chance of hitting on or before the river. The fact that your chances of winning are greater than the pot odds on offer means that a call will show a long term profit and that you can make it in this spot. In fact you can even calculate how many chips you’ll make from the call on average by adding the average chips gained when you hit, to the chips you lose when you miss. 36% of the time you’ll hit, and win 10,000 chips for a total of 3600, and 64% of the time you’ll lose 5000 chips for a total of -3200. The overall total gives you an expected value of +400 chips on average by making the call.

Let’s imagine the stack sizes are changed and your opponent surprises you by betting all-in for 10,000 chips on the flop. How does that change things? Now you’re risking 10,000 to win 15,000 giving you odds of 15/10 meaning that you need to win [10/(10+15)] = 40% of the time to break even. In this situation if you call, you’ll win 15,000 chips 36% of the time (5400), and you’ll lose 10,000 chips 64% of the time (-6400), so your expected value is now -1000 chips with this call.

In poker, you win when your opponent makes mathematical mistakes. If you bet a tiny amount relative to the size of the pot, you give your opponent very good pot odds and they can very often make a mathematically correct call. If you bet a bigger amount, they’ll generally not be getting the right price to call, and so if they do they’re making a mistake, which means a profit for you in the long run.

Implied Odds

In the examples we’ve discussed so far, the bets we’ve had to call have been all-in bets, and our pot odds calculations have been straightforward. Of course in deeper stacked cash games or early in tournaments, we’ll rarely be facing an all-in bet on the flop. Imagine you’re holding the same 7h 8h on a flop of AhTs2h in a $1/$2 cash game with stacks of $200 and $6 in the pot on the flop. Say your opponent bets $10, giving you odds of 16/10. If his bet was all-in, you’d need a 10/26 = 38% chance of winning the hand to call this bet. Your flush draw doesn’t quite make it, and so if his bet was all-in you should fold. However, with more money to into the pot, you can factor in money you could still possibly win before deciding whether to call or to fold. Let’s say you know this opponent will never fold AK and you’ll stack him if you hit your flush. Now when he bets $10, you’re really being offered his entire stack should you hit, so you need to call the $10 to prospectively win $200 plus the $6 in the pot meaning you’re getting odds of greater than 20/1. In this spot it’s clear that you should continue with your flush draw.

Let’s imagine that the turn comes down the 4d and your opponent bets $20 into the $26 pot, can you still continue. At this stage when implied odds are factored in, you’re being offered the $26 that was initially in the pot, plus his remaining $190 and you need to call $20 to see the river, representing odds of 216/20 or a little better than 10/1, meaning you need to win 9% of the time or more to show a profit.

With just one card to come, you have about an 18% chance of hitting your flush and so you can profitably call again.

Poker Equity Calculator

Of course this is an extreme example, you can never be 100% sure that you’ll stack your opponent or that you’ll have the winning hand by the river. Even if you make your flush, your opponent could easily fold when you show a lot of strength or show down a higher flush or a full house, which brings us to the subject of reverse implied odds.

Reverese Implied Odds

Our examples above took into account the potential for winning money on later streets if we make our hand. However there are a number of situations in poker where we stand to lose out on money that goes into the pot on future streets. These are known as reverse implied odds situations. An example of reverse implied odds would be calling a re-raise from a tight player with a hand like KQ. If the player has a tight re-raising range then we’ll be put in a lot of difficult spots if we make a hand which we think could be good. For example if he has AK, then we’re in a reverse implied odds spot, as we’re likely to call him down if the flop comes King high, but we’re drawing very thin. Hands where you’re likely to be dominated if you make a pair represent the most common type of reverse implied odds situations.

How To Calculate Total Equity

The most costly scenarios are where you’re drawing to a strong hand but your opponent has a stronger draw, such as a better flush draw or the higher end of a straight. Reverse implied odds situations are particularly difficult to deal with when you’re out of position and will find it difficult to control the size of the pot.

Poker Equity Calculator For Windows