Online Poker Forum - Range/Equity Explanation

mjmac85 · Three of a Kind Joined: 12 Feb 2009 Posts: 95

I have been playing poker for quite some time, and I have read a couple of books, but I have yet to come across an in depth explanation of a player's "range" of hands and "equity".

I make most of my decisions at the table by relying on my gut instincts, reads, pot odds and implied odds. Upon joining this forum, I have see the more experienced posters discussing "range" and "equity" very frequently. Would one of these posters mind explaining these terms in depth and how they affect one's decision in whether to call/raise/fold?

Thanks.

IABoomer · Moderator Joined: 29 Oct 2006 Posts: 7351

Range is, based on your read, what hands does your opponent have. You never want to put someone on one specific hand unless there's some overwhelming evidence that one particular hand is all they can have. You don't say, "I put him on AA", you're more likely to say, "I put him on an overpair, queens or better." That's his range.

Equity then is how your hand performs against that range. Pokerstove is good for calculating equity against a range, while hand calculators at Cardplayer or Twodimes.net, for example, only calculate your equity against a particular hand.

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