Equity
Equity is a player's expected share of the pot at a given moment, based on the chance of winning.
The simple explanation
Equity is how much of the pot you can expect to win from the hand as it stands. It is usually written as a percentage. If you have a 60 percent chance to win, you have 60 percent equity. 100 percent means a certain win and 0 percent means no chance.
A closer look
Equity is calculated by considering all the cards that can still come. A hand's raw equity ignores future betting, while realized equity accounts for what really happens, such as folds. The idea is central for decisions about calling, raising and folding. Pot odds compare the price of a call with the equity needed to profit.
A practical example
A player holds a pair of aces against a pair of kings before the flop. The aces have about 80 percent equity.
Full explanation
Equity is a player’s expected share of the pot at a given moment, based on the chance of winning.
Equity in poker is a player’s mathematically expected share of the pot, given the current situation. The share is usually expressed as a percentage.
If you could run out the remaining cards every possible way, the percentage of times your hand wins is its equity. In a split, the share is counted partially.
Equity changes with every card. A flush draw has real equity on the flop, and none on the river if the flush did not come.
The concept is the basis of pot odds and of many strategy decisions.
Seven winning rivers out of 44
No-limit Hold’em · Blinds 1/2 chips · No rake
A wins on seven river hearts. The 2♥ and 3♥ would instead give B a full house. There are 44 cards left and no ties, so A’s equity here is 7/44, about 15.91%, assuming no further betting.
Read the example transcript
Player A has the button (BTN) and posts the 1-chip small blind (SB). Player B posts the 2-chip big blind (BB).
- Turn · Pot: 12 chips
A wins on seven river hearts. The 2♥ and 3♥ would instead give B a full house. There are 44 cards left and no ties, so A’s equity here is 7/44, about 15.91%, assuming no further betting.
Board: QQueen of hearts (Qh)88 of hearts (8h)22 of clubs (2c)33 of diamonds (3d)
- Player A BTN / SB AAce of hearts (Ah)KKing of hearts (Kh) · Stack 194 · In this round 0
- Player B BB QQueen of clubs (Qc)QQueen of diamonds (Qd) · Stack 194 · In this round 0
Cards are shown for learning; totals are displayed before pot collection.