Q&A #32: Using Equity Simulations to Make Better Decisions
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Bobby asks,
Here’s an excerpt from your latest Q&A thread: “Another underutilized resource is simulation. If you learn how to interpret the results, you can learn a lot by running equity calculations on some hands that you’ve played. Andrew Prock’s PokerStove is a great tool.”
Do you use these calculations for Limit or also NL? I think it would be extremely instructive if you could provide some examples on just how you go through these equity calculations. I know it would be much appreciated. Thanks.
Yes, equity calculations are useful for both no limit and limit. The new NL book I’m working on with Matt Flynn and Sunny Mehta (due out in about three months) goes into using equity calculations in detail. I don’t want to spend too much time discussing it until the book is out.
But I’ll give you a quick example. Say you’re playing limit hold ‘em, and you have J:heart:J:club:. You have one opponent, and you 3-bet preflop, so there’s 3.5 big bets in the pot (including the big blind). The flop comes T:spade:9:spade:5:club:. The preflop raiser check-raises, you 3-bet, and he 4-bets. You want to know if you should just call down or put in another raise somewhere.
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Tags: equity-simulations, matt-flynn, poker, pokerstove, pot-equity, simulations, sunny-mehta
Thanks for the response and example. I definitely can’t wait for the “detailed” study of this method in your new book.
I grabbed a good example hand and tried to run my own equity calc. However, I had a bit of a problem writing in the ranges in PokerStove.
Here is the example hand:
[b]Pre-flop:[/b] ([i]6 players[/i]) Hero is CO with 6:club: 6:spade:
[i]2 folds[/i], Hero calls t150 [color:aaaaaa](pot was t225)[/color], Button folds, SB calls t75 [color:aaaaaa](pot was t375)[/color], BB folds.
[b]Flop:[/b] 4:spade: 5:spade: 4:club: ([i]t450, 2 players[/i])
[color:#cc0000]SB bets t450[/color] . . .
I think his range here is an assortment of 5s, an assortment of spades (As8s, KsTs, etc,) and maybe some PPs like 33,77, and 88.
Against the 5s, I have about 78% equity; against the overcards+flushdraws I’m a 52% favorite; and, against the PPs 88,77,33,22 I’m a 51% favorite.
I can do these individually, but my problem is confining them into one collective range so I can input them into PokerStove.
For instance, how does one include all the Ax of spades from As2s-AsTs, and how does one include all of the Kx of spades like Ks7s-KsQs?
Ed, what would your input look like?
Thanks again!
Bobby