Expected value

In poker it is very probably that a poor poker player to win money on a short term, but he will definitely lose money on a long term. When it comes to professionals things are a bit different, they usually lose money in the short run, but they will win on a long term. And this happens because of the concept known as expected value which is an important mathematical terms in poker, meaning how much is expected to win in a long term hand. For example: you have 50% chances to win a pot of $ 12. Sometimes you will get 12 $ and other times 0 $ . However, “expected value” is $ 6 in this case. Is calculated as: percentage of earnings * size pot.
If a combination of Ace-King is listed as having an EV of 1.73, it is expected that the hand to obtain an average gain of 1.73 in large bets. In other words, the table $ 5 / $ 10, the starting hand would “worth” $ 17.3, and a weak hand as 7, 2 of different colors, with an EV of -0.12, would “worth” – $ 1.20, which would represent an average loss of $ 1.20.
Example of an expected value: If your hand is an AT of diamonds and on the board there are a 7,8 of diamond and a 2 of heart, what should you do in the case when some of your opponents call to the big blind(you are the small blind). Your should certainly not call, but raise, because there are 35% chances for you to hit a flush on the turn or on the river. But it could happen to win with a pair of ten or aces. On the other hand someone could win with a full house , so your expected value decreases.
Expected value also make the difference between big mistakes and small mistakes. When a player makes a decision with a very high negative expected value, it means that he made a big mistake, but when he gives up a small amount of expected value, he made a small mistake. If you intend to play poker a lot it is good to know your estimated value for an hour of playing. For this it is good to record how much time did you spend playing, what kind of games have you played and the place where you played. After a period you will estimate your probably loss or win for an hour. You should not play on those games which you don’t afford to play, meaning with high bets. You will not go In with small hands , even if the expected value shows good chances for you to win those hands, and so you will lose some money.