Fold Equity

[BubbleBoy 0]

Ok so I hear a lot of people talk about fold equity and I don't understand it really. So could someone help explain it to me, when it is applied and what not. Thanks

[Suited_Up 2]

It's the chance of making your opponent fold even if you miss.Say you raise the button w/ AK, BB calls, flop is 248... He checks... and you bet, he goes away. He might have even had A2, or just nothing at all, but you had fold equity because you raised it preflop. Somethin like that.

[cdt002 0]

Ok so I hear a lot of people talk about fold equity and I don't understand it really. So could someone help explain it to me, when it is applied and what not. Thanks

Explanation here:with more here.

[rog 0]

Equity in general is the portion of the pot that you "own". In other words, the percent chance you will win the pot times the size of the pot. Fold equity is the equity that betting or raising gives you if everyone folds. Calculating it is a bit tricky since it's just an estimate. It's really the percent chance that everyone will fold to your bet/raise times the size of the pot.Equity in general is used to determine wether a raise has positive value. If I have 33% equity in the pot, then I need 2 callers to break even. 25%, 3 callers. Fold equity can increase your equity. For example, If I have 30% equity in a pot if it goes to showdwon, but only 2 potential callers, then raising is -EV. However, If I estimate that a raise wins the pot immediately 20% of the time, then my equity goes up, and raising becomes correct.Hmmm...I've never done these calculations before so I might butcher it. Let's see. 20% fold equity + 30% equity the other 80% of the time should give me a true equity of 44%? Raise into 2 or more callers, but check into 1.

[thrillsoft 0]

Ok so I hear a lot of people talk about fold equity and I don't understand it really. So could someone help explain it to me, when it is applied and what not. Thanks

Fold equity is the chance of winning based on your opponnent folding. This is added to your normal equity in the pot. Say for instance that you have As Ts and your raise it from the button to $20. The BB calls. Pot is now $50 and you have $200 in your stack.The flop comes down Js Th 9s. Say that you're sure that your opponent holds a J or a Q. You're behind in the hand. Let's say that your opponent has KK and you know that's what he has. You believe another T will win you the pot. An A will win you the pot or any spade will win you the pot. You've actually got 14 outs. You're probably a favorite to win the hand unless h e's got a set. If he bets out say 3/4 of the pot you'd probably be right to just go all-in. You also have "fold equity" in that if you're say 60% to win the hand and there's a 10% chance that your opponent will fold, you have 10% fold equity. In coin flip situations, your "fold equity" becomes a big factor. You may end up pushing or making a big bet on good draw because when you add the "fold equity" into it, the push is a clearly more profitable in the long run.

[Royal_Tour 0]

Fold equity is a myth.calculating it is for dorks, and depending on it takes years off your life.cheersHmmm...I've never done these calculations before so I might butcher it. Let's see. 20% fold equity + 30% equity the other 80% of the time should give me a true equity of 44%? Raise into 2 or more callers, but check into 1.60% of the time, this sentence makes sense all the time

[....Ian.... 0]

57% of all statistics are made up

[Simpleton 0]

Considering you don't play big stakes, it's umpossible to get retards to fold anyways. That is why everyone is always bitching about getting rivered all the time.

[BubbleBoy 0]

ok thanks for the help. good stuff, but is still a difficult concept for me. I'm a little slow, I might just side with Royal that its a myth.

[Mockerman1 0]

Considering you don't play big stakes, it's umpossible to get retards to fold anyways. That is why everyone is always bitching about getting rivered all the time.

To the OP - The basic general idea of fold equity is that on top of winning the hand by having the best hand another reason why a bet may be correct in a certain situation is that your opponent (or opponents) may fold. As stated above this works best with drawing hands or at least not made hands (like for instance the above poster who linked to the cardplayer article about AK - a very widely discussed starting hand when discussing aggregression in the first place, and other hands discussed above such as have an open-ended straight draw). Hope that this helps and that it breaks it down to its founding, most basic idea -that part of the advantage to betting is that it may also get your opponent to fold.In regards to the quote -Unless I'm missing something in this whole situation, this is definitely the statement I'd side with on this one. I do believe it is a 'myth' at the lower stakes and probably even in a lot of tournaments (both minor and major), unless you know the opponent you are going up against. This tactics basically only works against an opponent who has shown an ability to lay down say second pair and I find myself mostly frustrated by the fact that in general this is not the case.Again, yes it does have some advantage in that if you miss a flop and so does (do) your opponent(s), it will be to your advantage.

[Mercury69 3]

vnh!

[thecamelot 0]

Yup, fold equity is a myth.

[BeaverStyle 1]

[Kaedin 0]

I cant tell if the responses here are serious or not..FE is mentioned with regards to tournament play. I'll give you a very basic example (which will also be tied into other concentps). Say you're at the final table, you're the short stack, 8 ppl left. You are 3rd to act. Blinds are 1000-2000 with a 200 ante. You have 4500 chips left after posting your ante. You look down at K9os. You push. You've pushed only 2 1/4 Big blinds. Assuming no one else calls, the big blind will be getting great odds and have tournament equity (assuming he isnt severely short stacked as well) to call. With a small stack, you have little fold equity.Now, lets use the same example, but say you have 8500 chips. Now you have enough chips that your raise is solid enough that people will fold marginal hands (but you could still get called by a better king or even a weak ace). Fold Equity is all related to your ability to get others to fold.Another exmaple might be if you had QJ in late position. You only have 4 to 5 BBs left. An early position player raises it up to 3BBs. You have no fold equity here. Sure, you can push. But you WILL be called (you simply dont have enough chips here to make the EP raiser fold).