Discussion thread: Ranges and Equity

Exercises and discussion for the lesson "Ranges"

• Note down the following range in text:

• If you put your opponent on this range, which top pairs, two pairs and sets will he hold on the following board: A :heart:J :spade:4 :heart:?
• Which range contains all possible gutshots on: 6 4 :spade:K :diamond:J :spade:? Note down the range!

Bonus task:

Watch the hand in the video and write down the 6 best possible hands on the river. How many of those hands are represented in the video?

Further discussion
• When can the concept of ranges help you?
• How can you practice the concept of ranges?
• Are you already applying the concept of ranges at the tables? In which situations?

Exercises and discussion for the lesson "Combos & Card Removal"
• After the SB cold called your minraise from the BU, you find yourself in the following spot:

This is your opponent's preflop calling range:

Your opponent will raise the flop with flush draws, OESDs, top pair top kickers, two pairs and sets. How many combos of these hands exist? How many combos of draws are in your opponent's range? How many combos of value hands?

• You are in the same spot on the same board, but now you are holding AdAc instead of QsJc. How many combos of draws and how many combos of value hands are in your opponent's range?

Further discussion
• How can you practice counting combos?
• For what decisions is it especially important to know how many combos of a certain hand there are? When is it negligible?
• Are you already applying the concept of combos at the tables? Or do you only use it for hand discussions on the forums?

New Lesson

Equity: Introduction

Article
Quiz
Video

Equity is a percentage that indicates how often your hand or range is ahead of your opponent's hand or range at showdown. It depends on the development of the board and your opponent's range.

Exercises for equity
• You're on the BU, and an opponent raises:

You put him on the following range: 77+, AJs+, KJs+, AJo+, KQo+
How much equity do you have against his range if you hold AKs?

• How much equity do you have against the following ranges?
Range a) 55+, ATs+, KJs+, QJs, AJo+, KJo+, QJo
Range b) 88+, AK
Range c) AJ+

• How does the equity of your hand change?

State how much equity you have on every street. Your opponent's range is: 77+, AJ+

Answers:

Hi, equity in answear a) b) c) is wrong.

Originally posted by geoka1
Hi, equity in answear a) b) c) is wrong.

Yes, if we hold AKs than the percentages are incorrect and should be 59%, 44-45%, 68%.

But the second exercise doesn't specifically state which hand we hold, so I think that's where the problem lies.

Hello,

I don't understand the equity calculations in the video about calling the river. Basically, to use the second hand as an example, the video states that hero needs to call $7 to win $24.50. This gives pot odds of 3.5:1, which means that if hero calls, he/she needs to win once and lose 3.5 times to make the play EV neutral or, in other words, hero needs to be good once out of 4.5 times in total. To turn this into a percentage, 100/4.5 = 22% not 29% as stated in the video. This 29%, I believe, is just showing how to calculate hero's pot odds as a percentage, not the minimum amount of equity you need to call. This is also why I think it's better to use odds rather than percentages with pot odds, and percentages with required equity (as equity against a villain's range is always expressed as a percentage in apps like poker stove).

IMO, the same above principle applies for figuring out the required pot odds to call draws too. For example, hero has a flush draw on the turn and is facing the same pot odds to call as above (3.5:1). There are 9 outs and 46 unseen cards. 9 goes into 46 5.1 times, which means hero needs to be good once out of a total of 5.1 times or he/she needs to win once and lose 4.1 times to call. This means that hero needs pot odds of 4.1:1 to call, which he/she doesn't (assuming that the made flush will win 100% of the time at showdown). Surely this is correct no?

I guess answer would be:

OESD - # 0 (0 combos) since cards KQ and 98 are not in the range
Flush draw - # 1 (1 combo) A9 diamond
Sets - # 7 (7 combos)
Top pair – top kicker - # 8 (8 combos)
Two pairs - #21 (21 combo) – JT (6 combos), J5 (6 combos), 5T (9 combos)

DRAWS – 1 combo
VALUE HANDS – 36 combos

Hope this is right.

COMBOS II

If our hand is Ad Ac instead of Qs Jc, I guess answer would be:

OESD - # 0 (0 combos) since cards KQ and 98 are not in the range
Flush draw - # 0 (0 combos)
Sets - # 6 (6 combos)
Top pair – top kicker - # 6 (6 combos)
Two pairs - #27 (27 combo) – JT (9 combos), J5 (9 combos), 5T (9 combos)

DRAWS – 0 combos
VALUE HANDS – 33 combos

Hope this is right.

Originally posted by geoka1
Hi, equity in answear a) b) c) is wrong.

Thanks, these have been fixed.

Hi,

Was wondering if someone could clarify the required equity calculation in question 6 of the "Final Calls" quiz.

Surely required equity should be 41.25% if we calculate in the same was as in Q4 shouldn't the required equity be:

16.5 / (23.5 + 16.5)

We can see total pot size on the question is 23.5, 20 of this was from villain, hero is 3.5 short of 20 - Implying hero put 3.50 in the pot, and the next 20 was from the villain

This would mean pot + amount to call should equal $40 as both players started with $20

However to get the minimum required equity given in the answer to the question the total pot size would be 20 rather than 23.5 meaning the $3.50 in the pot in addition to villains All-in came from thin air

Hi, in question 2 from the quiz, if a diamond appear on the river other than 9 and the villain has QJs+ of diamond, he'd win with a flush.

So why is the hero's equity 100% on the turn?

Thanks for the great post. I am using Ace Poker Drills to learn the Equity which is really so much better for me in HM2. This informative will also helped me to learn some new thing of equity.

Step 3: Calculate your equity against your opponent's range

Since you are holding QQ in this spot, you have 47% equity against your opponent's range (JJ+, AK). That is more than the required equity of 40%, so you should call.

Is there a way to calculate these 47% approximately without using equilab? If not, is there be a table with the most common examples where you just memorize how much equity you have against your opponent's range?

Originally posted by Hesticus
Is there a way to calculate these 47% approximately without using equilab? If not, is there be a table with the most common examples where you just memorize how much equity you have against your opponent's range?

You can try the equilab tool "equity trainer", after a lot of exercises you can see that your guesses are refining more and more

Sounds like a plan! Thanks

For question 5 can somebody post the 36 hand combinatons? I keep ending up with around 36 when I try and work it out pen and paper so I must be doing something wrong, thanks.
Edit: Ignore this I figured it out tafter writing all the possible combinations down and stroking out the ones that couldn't be available.

Originally posted by vincenttafolla979
Thanks for the great post. I am using Ace Poker Drills to learn the Equity which is really so much better for me in HM2. This informative will also helped me to learn some new thing of equity.

yeah that is so useful. My friend is also using ace poker drills and i really like it. sadly i can't purchase it.

I'm having trouble understanding the correct answer to quiz question #5 in the Equity: Final Calls lesson.

When I enter the range into eqilab, I get this result:

I'm having trouble understanding where the 23% figure comes from in the answer when I'm showing 53% in equilab. Any help greatly appreciated! Thanks.

Edit: Welp, after re-reading it, I didn't pay attention to detail and didn't specify spades for the bluff combos in the range. All sorted

Hello nickycakes

Welcome on the PokerStrategy forum

I have fixed you’re pictures for you and nice that you have solved it.
Maybe it’s good to Introduce yourself!
This way we will know you a little bit better.

Cheers,
SDK1987