texas holdem starting hand win percentages

The reason why semi bluffing in poker is profitable is because you capitalize on your fold equity and combine it with your pot equity. Inversely, the more pot equity you have the less fold equity you need. The more fold equity you have the less pot equity you need for your bet to be profitable. Every bet in poker has a perceived amount of fold equity based on how often your opponent will fold, so the profitability of any bet is made up by your perceived fold equity combined with your pot equity. Using a hand converter to review hands you’ve played is a great way to see your equity at different stages of certain hands, and to build experience and good instincts when it comes to making those trickier mental calculations.įold equity in poker is quite simply a way of talking about how often your opponent will fold when you bet.

Making equity calculations on the fly can take some getting used to. How big is your stack? If you’re in a tournament, how close are you to the money, or to the final table? If you fold, how many chips will you have left? What do you do? Equity dictates you fold, because now you are a 2 to 1 underdog to win the hand, and with having to pay 9,000 to win 16,500, the pot is not offering you 2 to 1 odds.īut there are other factors that could lead you to make the call.

Let’s say Player 1 leads out with a bet of 9,000, into a pot of 7,500, and Player 2 folds. Player 1, with the pocket queens, is now at 55%, and Player 2 is at 9 percent. Your equity – the chance you will win the hand – has dropped to 36 percent.

Let’s say the turn is a brick for all three players – a nothing card like the 3 of diamonds. In terms of equity, you gained 55% of the 6,000 chips that went in the pot, or 3,300 chips – almost twice what you bet. You only have a 10-high at this point and figure to be behind both players, but your potential to improve is so good that it makes sense to try a semi-bluff, so you put out a bet of 2,000, and both players call. Let’s say you are in position and both players check.

How Much Money Can You Make Playing Poker?Įquity would dictate that you bet.

Texas holdem starting hand win percentages