If you ask a professional player: Why did you call that hand just now? They won't answer that I think I'm lucky, but will tell you: because this is a positive decision. EV (Expected Value) is the soul of Texas Hold'em and the only criterion that distinguishes gamblers from hunters.
What is EV expectation value
In simple terms, EV is the average profit or loss that a decision will bring you each time under long-term repeated execution.
-Positive EV (plus EV): If you make this decision for a long time, you will win money.
-Negative EV (minus EV): If you make this decision for a long time, you will lose money.
Hunter's point of view: Professional players don't care about winning or losing this hand, they only care about whether their decision-making has positive expectations.
The core computing logic of EV
You don't need to take out a computer on the desk, but you have to understand the logic.：
EV is equal to (the probability of winning multiplied by the amount won) minus (the probability of losing multiplied by the amount lost)
Practical example question: The relationship between pot odds and EV
The pot now has 150, the opponent bets 50, and the total pot becomes 200.
You need to call 50, and your winning rate is calculated to be 25%.
If you call：
25% of the time you will win 200 of the pot.
75% of the time you will lose 50 of your calls.
Calculation method: (0.25 multiplied by 200) minus (0.75 multiplied by 50) equals 50 minus 37.5 equals positive 12.5.
This is a positive EV call, and on average you can make a profit of 12.5 yuan per call.
Hunter Mentality: How to Train your EV Intuition
1. First familiarize yourself with Outs and Pot Odds
EV is based on a comprehensive judgment of winning rate and odds. When you have an intuition about the Outs count and pot odds threshold of the previous tutorials, you can tell within a few seconds whether an action is positive or negative.
2. Ignore short-term fluctuations (Variance)
This is the most difficult lesson for novices. Sometimes you make a positive decision but lose the entire stack of chips, which doesn't mean you made a mistake. The hunter looks at the result of 10,000 hands. As long as the quality of the decision is positive, the money will eventually return to your pocket.
3. Focus on the decision-making process rather than the result
If you call in a negative EV situation but win, it is called good luck, but it will develop a bad habit. Professional hunters will review whether their decision-making route is correct, rather than reviewing what cards the dealer has dealt.
Texas Hold'em is a regular game
If you want to make a long-term profit in Texas Holdem, you have only one goal: to make a positive EV decision in every hand as much as possible, and to lure opponents to make negative EV mistakes. When you stop talking about luck, but start talking about expectations, you officially step into the threshold of professional thinking.
Want to change Texas Holdem from "can understand" to "can win"?
Texas Holdem Hunter Poker provides a series of teaching, replay exchanges and information on irregular competition activities, taking you from "looking at the cards" to "looking at the range (range)"; allowing you to play the highest value of each hand.