Fold Equity in Poker

With so many terms with the word equity in them being thrown round in the poker world, you would think that you would need a finance degree just to understand what people are talking about. Of course, that is not the case and these terms are actually just simple names to represent more complex topics. What is fold equity? Fold equity, a.k.a. folding equity, is an extremely important idea for players looking to become a pro poker player. In simple terms, fold equity is the value you get when your opponent is going to fold their hand.

In poker, there are two different ways that you can win a hand. Either you can win the hand at showdown or you can win the hand by getting the rest of the players at the table to fold. Winning at showdown only requires that you have the best hand but winning by forcing all the other players to fold is a much more difficult feat to accomplish. The good news is is that you do not even have to be holding the best hand, you just need to get the rest of the players to think that you are holding the best hand – or, rather, holding a hand that is better than their own.

Being able to utilize fold equity successfully requires a number of different things. The first is the ability to read your opponents hands’ to some degree. In many ways you are playing the player more then your own cards. You do not need to be able to read your opponent like a pro and put them on a specific hand down to the very suit – who can do that anyway? – but you do need to be able to narrow them down to a range of possible hands. Without the knowledge of a possible range of hands, you cannot determine how likely they are to fold and you cannot determine the fold equity that you have.

The idea of fold equity should not be used as your sole reason for playing hands and you should avoid using it as a justification for stone-cold bluffs as this will get you into trouble when playing against players who can’t find the fold button. It is, however, extremely helpful in determining what to do when you are using a semi-bluff and can help to make these moves more viable in the long term for you. For example, let’s say that you raise pre-flop with an ace jack of hearts from the button and an early position limper calls. That player is fairly loose so there is a wide range of hands he could be playing. The flop is king of hearts, queen of clubs, and a six of hearts. The player makes a bet of about 50% the size of the pot. In this scenario, you cannot call because the numbers are not in your favor but you can raise for a number of reasons. The first reason is that because your opponent is weak you can probably push him off a mediocre pair or draw and even if your opponent does call, you have a decent number of outs to make a hand.

There are also situations where you cannot really apply the idea of fold equity to what is happening. For example, if you are playing against a call station, you will have a difficult time figuring out fold equity because there is none. If there is no chance of your opponent folding then there is no fold equity with which to work.

Using the idea of fold equity to your advantage will go a long way toward improving your showing at the table. It will give you the opportunity to pull in pots that you would not have been able to otherwise and give you an improved view of how the game is unfolding. Raise your monthly earning by getting rakeback. Sign up for a Rakeback Account today and take advantage of our amazing rakeback deals and monthly promotions worth $300.000+. Never heard about rakeback! Then go straight to what i rakeback to get started.