I remember
the first coaching session that I had at NLHE and my coach who was successfully
beating NL100 and NL200 said to me… “Carl, why are you raising from the button
with 8d-4c?”
However despite being a slight underdog to the 9-2o hand when heads up, the suited connector does much better and is a 79-21 dog. This is what equity does because the suited connector wins far more big pots than the 9-2o hand and this is where it catches up and passes the inferior holding. The suited connector can make the nut straight and a flush while the 9-2o hand is going to find itself in an awful lot of unprofitable spots.
He had a
point because looking back then this “any two cards can win” rubbish belongs in
the realm of novice poker and players that frequent poker tournaments. In cash
games and especially multi-tabling cash games then I had to start thinking
about equity and fast.
I was
coached on equity and how to identify the equity with regards to certain types
of hands. Equity comes in different shapes and sizes and is pot equity and fold
equity. A hand like 9-2o for example has a very slight equity edge over 8s-7s
but the suited connector fares better against stronger hands. This is the first
big lesson of equity because the 9-2o is around 50.02% against the suited connector
of 8-7s but is an 87-13 dog against a hand like pocket queens. However despite being a slight underdog to the 9-2o hand when heads up, the suited connector does much better and is a 79-21 dog. This is what equity does because the suited connector wins far more big pots than the 9-2o hand and this is where it catches up and passes the inferior holding. The suited connector can make the nut straight and a flush while the 9-2o hand is going to find itself in an awful lot of unprofitable spots.
I have
recently been playing my poker at http://www.pokerstars.com/poker/promotions/rafa-nadal/
