The Gap Concept, and Fold Equity

 The Gap Concept and the Fold Equity

This guide will contain a lot of talk about fold equity. It has been touched on a few occasions.

Because it is so crucial in a poker tournament, I will be discussing it in this article.

I would also like to introduce the Poker Gap Concept. This concept is directly related to fold equity. It becomes more obvious as you progress through the middle and end stages of a tournament.

Fold Equity

You have two options to win a poker hand: you can either show your best hand or face off against more opponents.

Poker is an entertaining game that allows you to see that you don't necessarily need the best hands to win a poker pot.

Many players are shocked to find out this realization and say "Great!" I'm just going bluff every single hand now." This is not how it should be done and does not give me the true benefit. Although bluffing is important in certain situations, it's not the only thing that makes a good player in poker tournaments. The concept of fold equity is far more important.

Fold Equity is the term for the added value you get when you're the aggressor in a hand. This bet gives you the chance to win by your opponent folding.

Illustration of Fold Equity

Let us look at an example that illustrates this idea. Imagine that you knew you were 60% more likely to win the hand than your opponent. In this scenario, if you checked the hand throughout and saw all five cards to the river, then you would win 6 times out of 10, while your opponent would win 4 times out of 10.

Let's suppose that you make a bet on the flop and your opponent folds. You win the hand by your opponent folding three times out 10 Your opponent would win the remaining 7 times. You would win 60% and you would win the hand 4 times out 7. Add these together and you can see that betting has increased your chances of winning to 7 out 10 while reducing your opponent's chance to win to 3 out 10.

This is a very crude example but illustrates the point. If you are the aggressor, and make a bet on the hand, your chances of winning have been increased from 60% to 70%.

Folding to Conserve Equity

Your risk is minimized when you fold because your chip stack does not change. You also have the benefit of preserving your future fold equity so you can access it when you need. You are conserving fold equity even when you fold in the big blind or small to get a raise.

Fold equity describes your odds of your opponent folding so the smaller your chips, the lower your fold equity.

Your fold equity can be increased or maintained by folding your stack to preserve it. This is because stacks are shrinking in size. If your opponent has 2,000 chips and you only have 1,000, then your opponent will need to risk 50% of his stack in order to call an All-In from you. That is quite a chunk. Imagine you only had 100 chips. Your fold equity becomes much more useful as it is now 10% of his stack. This makes it much easier for him to make a decision. The odds of your opponent folding are decreased if you have less chips. poker tournaments gap concept