EV

[PokerZen]

Does anyone have a link or a very good explanation on EV?
I'm tryin to learn more about it but so far what im reading is confusing me a little bit. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Zen

[swiggidy]

I looked around and it's really not mentioned anywhere, weird.

eV is expected value. It is what you win/loose on average by making a certain play at a certain time.

If we flip a coin and I give you $1 for heads, you give me $1 for tails. There is a 50% chance of either happening so
$won * chance of winning - $ lost * chance of loosing
1 * 0.5 - 1 * 0.5 = 0
zero, you don't expect to win or loose money playing this game. Note you never win zero dollars, it's either +1 or - 1 but over time the net gain is expected to be zero.

Now suppose I pay you $2 for heads
2 * 0.5 - 1 * 0.5 = +0.5
Now you expect to win 50c. You never actually win 50c, but if we flip the coin 100 times you should expect to have
100 * 50c = $50
Which should make sense because you would expect to win $2 50 times and loose $1 50 times.

How does this work in poker? There is $10 in the pot. You have 25% chance of winning, do you call $5?
$won * chance of winning - $ lost * chance of loosing
$10 * 0.25 - $5 * 0.75 =
$2.50 - $3.75 = -$1.25
Calling is an expected loss so you fold.

[bigspenda73]

EV is so complex. Really if you buy any Sklansky book I think it goes into depth about EV.

In a nutshell EV is the Expected Value of an event. The coin flip method swiggs used is the most typical one is describing EV. When pertaining to poker you want to be operating with positve EV which means you will have a return on your actions and not a loss. If an event is ever negative EV in poker we want to stay away from that action or choose the action that is less negative.

If you can get your hands on any hold'em books look through it b/c it will likely explain the subject much better than anyone of us could is a 100 word post.

[swiggidy]

If you can get your hands on any hold'em books look through it b/c it will likely explain the subject much better than anyone of us could is a 100 word post.

Especially cuz you'll keep getting distracted by hot chicks round here

[bigspenda73]

If you can get your hands on any hold'em books look through it b/c it will likely explain the subject much better than anyone of us could is a 100 word post.

Especially cuz you'll keep getting distracted by hot chicks round here

That's why I turn avatars off when Im actually trying to learn. Although, I started going "Something About Mary" and unloading my gun before browsing FTR.

[taipan168]

This relates to SNGs, but I thought it was a very good post.

http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...oker-22221.htm

[swiggidy]

I knew there had to be a sticky somewhere

[donkbee]

I knew there had to be a sticky somewhere

I'll put a link in the digest. I have to organize all these damn stickies in the next few days.

[PokerZen]

Thanks guys. Incredibly helpful so far.
Unfortunately as I expected this is a very complex matter but you've helped me understand the basics!
Thanks alot.