equity

Equity is the average percentage of the pot a current hand or range wins at immediate showdown against a specified opponent range.

Detailed Explanation

There are two types of equity to distinguish:

• Raw equity: equity at immediate showdown, ignoring future actions
• Realized equity: equity actually realized after accounting for position, betting, folds, and other dynamic factors

Example: 88 vs an opponent's wide cbet range may have 55% raw equity, but if 88 is OOP and struggles against turn barrels, its realized equity might be only 45%.

Factors that affect realized equity:

• Position (IP usually realizes more)
• SPR (stack-to-pot ratio)
• Opponent's aggression frequency
• Your bluff-catching ability

Common Use Cases

• Drawing decisions: pot odds vs equity
• Flop sizing: range-equity distribution determines bet frequency and size
• Range construction: high-equity hands as value, low-equity hands with good blockers as bluffs

Common Mistakes

• Treating raw equity as the decision criterion: in practice, almost always adjust to realized equity
• Ignoring shifts in opponent's range: loose vs tight changes the same hand's equity by 10%+