How does Flopzilla calculate Equity?
I am taking SplitSuit's advice and am watching Poker Sessions on YouTube and trying to calculate EV. One part of that is figuring out the Equity in the EV equation. So, I have to have correct equities to plug into the formula. The hand in question is AK vs QQ. Because I know the specific hands, I use the rule of 4/2 (which may not apply here since there is no flop yet) and I get 6 outs (for AK) x4 which comes out to 24%. Flopzilla has the equity at 43.24%. This is all before the flop.
So, I know that I am wrong here. How do I get to 43% or is this one of those things where I have to keep working with Flopzilla every day and just try my best to memorize the equity of certain hands vs. hands/ranges? And if so, are there any shortcuts anyone can share to make this second-nature?
So, I know that I am wrong here. How do I get to 43% or is this one of those things where I have to keep working with Flopzilla every day and just try my best to memorize the equity of certain hands vs. hands/ranges? And if so, are there any shortcuts anyone can share to make this second-nature?
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Ninjah Red Chipper Posts: 1,196 ✭✭✭✭
4/2 rule is a quick estimate for post flop equity only. Preflop equity would take into consideration the possible ways a hand can win counting all 5 cards post flop. -
TheGameKat Posts: 4,285 -
I am taking SplitSuit's advice and am watching Poker Sessions on YouTube and trying to calculate EV. One part of that is figuring out the Equity in the EV equation. So, I have to have correct equities to plug into the formula. The hand in question is AK vs QQ. Because I know the specific hands, I use the rule of 4/2 (which may not apply here since there is no flop yet) and I get 6 outs (for AK) x4 which comes out to 24%. Flopzilla has the equity at 43.24%. This is all before the flop.
So, I know that I am wrong here. How do I get to 43% or is this one of those things where I have to keep working with Flopzilla every day and just try my best to memorize the equity of certain hands vs. hands/ranges? And if so, are there any shortcuts anyone can share to make this second-nature?
There are a bunch of preflop hand vs hand equities you'll either learn through repetition or from using a resource like Doug's "Math Geeks" book. -
TheGameKat Posts: 4,285 -
Incidentally, to really appreciate some of these issues, it might help to ask why the 4/2 rule works.
Hint: how many cards are there in the deck? -
Doug Hull RCP Coach Posts: 1,876 -
I think you need to understand why the rule of 2/4 works.
After the flop, we know where 3+2 of the cards ion the deck are, leaving an equal chance for each of the other 47 to come on the next board card.
For simplicity, let us say 47 is equal to 50 for extremely large values of 47.
With 50 cards in the deck, each of of them is 2% of the deck. So if 5 cards help us, and we want to know the odds that the next card will help us, we know that 5 x 2% is 10% and that is how often the next card will help us.
Doing some gorilla math, with two cards to come, we double the percentage to 20% by multiplying by 4 instead of 2.
This is all simplifications, but it works well enough. My book, Poker Workbook for Math Geeks shows some refinements to this and other common math situations in Poker. It gives explanations and techniques like this so you can actually do the math you need, in your head, at the table when it matters.
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TheGameKat Posts: 4,285 -
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Doug Hull RCP Coach Posts: 1,876 -
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