Fish, hand equity and fold equity

[Mike_25]

At the table, there’s two kinds of players - fish and sharks. The fish are the amateur fools who don’t know when to fold ‘em. They’re easy money for a pro like me.

Hand equity means having the best natural five card poker hand, something like a full house or better. That wins the pot right there. But fold equity, getting the other players to fold their weak hands, that’s really how I build my stack.

By betting and raising at just the right times, I can get those fish to fold any two cards. Their loss is my gain. They call my bluff sometimes, sure, but over the long run I'm ahead because of all the pots I win with inferior hands.

Poker is about pushing the weak players out of the hand and isolating the strong players. Hand equity gets there fast, fold equity grinds it out slowly. Either way, the chips come over to me sooner or later. And that’s precisely the kind of equity I'm gaming for at the table!

 

[swift]

I think fold equity" refers to the additional value a player can gain from forcing an opponent to fold their hand. This is particularly important in situations where a player's hand equity is low, but their ability to bluff their opponent out of the pot is high. By making a big bet or raise, the player can try to convince their opponent to fold and win the pot without having to show their hand.

 

[Lazza]

Using aggressive betting or raising to increase the likelihood that opponents will fold their hands is known as fold equity. It is a tactic that players employ to sway a hand's outcome without necessarily holding the best hand at that particular moment.