The Poker Equity Cheat Sheet: Every Number That Decides a Call

Every call in poker is a comparison between two numbers: the equity you need, set by the price, and the equity you have, set by the cards. Most players guess at both. This page is the reference for both — every figure simulated at 300,000 trials per matchup, not copied from a forum post.

Bookmark it, or better, memorize the dozen numbers that repeat forever.

The equity you need: pot odds by bet size

When you face a bet, the required equity is bet ÷ (pot after your call). You do not need to compute it live — bet sizes come in standard fractions, and each fraction has a fixed answer:

Two things worth noticing. The whole table lives between 20% and 40% — no single bet, however large, ever demands more than 40% equity, because the pot is always laying you something. And the difference between a half-pot and a full-pot bet is only about 8 points of required equity, which is why draws that continue against one size usually continue against the other. The full derivation is in our pot odds guide, and the calculator handles the awkward in-between sizes.

The equity you have: preflop matchups

Preflop all-ins resolve into a handful of recurring shapes. Learn the shape and you know the number, whatever the exact cards:

The corrections this table makes to table-talk are worth spelling out:

• "It's a flip" is usually wrong. Pair against two overcards is not 50/50 — the pair is 54–57% depending on suits. Over a career of tournament all-ins, that gap is a real edge. The closest thing to a genuine flip is the small pair against AK: 22 vs AKo is 52.6/47.4 — and it is the deuces that are ahead.
• Domination costs a quarter of the pot. AK against AQ, AQ against KQ — the dominated hand wins about 26%. That number is the entire argument for folding weak aces to tight raisers, and it never changes.
• Aces are only 77% against a suited connector. Better than against almost anything else — but the hand everyone loves to "crack aces" with genuinely is the right tool for it, which is exactly why it needs the implied odds to justify the preflop call.

The equity you have: draws

Postflop, equity comes from outs. Count them once, then use the 4-2 rule — outs × 4 on the flop, × 2 on the turn:

Now put the two tables together, because this is the whole game in one sentence: a flush draw on the flop (35%) continues against any bet up to and beyond full pot (33.3%), and a gutshot (16.5%) continues against nothing bigger than a quarter-pot bet — before implied odds enter the picture. Most of the calls that feel like judgment are already decided.

The multiway correction

Every number above is heads-up, and heads-up is the one thing a loose game never gives you. Equity falls as players are added — and it falls fastest for exactly the hands that look safest. Aces drop from 85% heads-up to 49% six-way. QJ offsuit drops from 58% to 23%, at which point it is worth no more than J9 suited.

The complete table — all 169 starting hands, from heads-up to six players — is in our multiway equity reference, and the strategy that follows from it is in beating a table that never folds.

One worked hand, start to finish

You call a button open from the big blind with 8♥7♥. The flop comes K♠9♥4♥, giving you a flush draw. The button bets two-thirds pot.

1. Equity you need: ⅔ pot — 28.6%, from the first table. No arithmetic at the table.
2. Equity you have: nine flush outs — 35% from the third table, or 9 × 4 = 36% by the shortcut.
3. Decision: 35% > 28.6%. Call. It is not close, and it stays a call against a full-pot bet too.

The entire decision took two lookups. That is the point of memorizing these numbers: not precision, but speed — the maths finished before the doubt starts.

Where these numbers come from

Matchup equities were simulated at 300,000 trials each, sampling every suit combination, using the same evaluator behind our multiway equity dataset — validated against published heads-up figures before either was run. Draw percentages are exact. If you want to work equity out for any hand rather than memorize it, the outs & equity calculator is free, as is everything else in the toolset.