Fold Equity

If you've ever wondered why everyone always talks about aggressive play being critical to becoming a winning player in No-Limit Texas Hold'em, fold equity is a big part of the answer. Aggressive play means you're generally betting or raising rather than calling bets by other players, and every time you make a bet, you give yourself two ways to win: you can have the best hand at showdown, or your opponents might fold to your bet.

That chance that they might fold is what's known as fold equity. In many cases, fold equity turns a play that makes little sense in terms of hand value into a profitable bet. Here are just a few examples of where fold equity is critical to playing winning poker:

• Pure Bluffs: On a pure bluff, all you have is fold equity; if it weren't for the chance that your opponent would fold, your hand would be worthless.
• Semi-Bluffs: When semi-bluffing, your hand has some value, but not enough to warrant a value bet. However, that value combined with your fold equity is enough to make your play profitable.
• Continuation Bets: While we'll often have a hand with at least some value when we make a c-bet, the play really relies on the fold equity we have due to the fact that our opponents will rarely flop a strong hand.
• Preflop All-In Bets: Especially in tournament play, we can move all-in preflop when the stacks are short. But we don't want to wait until we're too short; by keeping our stack large enough to hurt other players should they call and lose, we gain fold equity, which allows us to push all-in and often pick up the blinds and antes without a fight.