This includes the size of the pot already on the table, the cost of a certain decision, and the equity of the hands involved. In the game of poker, the expected value is calculated by taking all the known parameters into the equation. Thinking in terms of expected value instead of hoping for a favorable outcome based on luck is the only way to approach poker in a way that gives you an advantage over your opponents. In poker, 50/50 situations are very rare, and one side usually has at least some advantage. The expected value of a coin toss is exactly 0, as the chance of each side coming up is exactly 50%. You could say heads thousands of times or tails thousands of times the final result would most likely be that you would neither win nor lose any money.

However, if you were to toss the same coin thousands of times, with $100 on the line each time, it would not matter which way you went. However, only one side will come up this time, making this math irrelevant you will have to make a decision based on your 'gut.' If you only get to toss the coin once for $100, you know that there is exactly a 50% chance of the coin coming up heads or tails. Imagine you are tossing a coin, and there is money on the line to get started. To illustrate EV in the simplest way, we are going to use a very common example. The concept of EV can also be applied to other games, and it is quite commonly used to describe decisions and results of games like roulette or blackjack. In the simplest terms, the expected value is the average result you expect to get from a certain poker play if it were to be played countless times.

All poker hands explained