EV
EV, or expected value, is the average amount a decision wins or loses if the same spot were repeated many times.
Read definitionPoker terms
Poker strategy glossary
Clear definitions for the concepts that shape good poker decisions. Use this as a study reference before reviewing hands or training solver-style spots.
Equity
Equity is the share of the pot a hand or range expects to win against another hand or range.
Read definitionEquity realization
Equity realization is the percentage of theoretical equity a hand captures after position, playability, pressure, and future bets are considered.
Read definitionPot odds
Pot odds are the immediate price offered by the pot, usually expressed as the equity needed to break even on a call.
Read definitionImplied odds
Implied odds account for future bets that can be won after completing a strong hand.
Read definitionMinimum defense frequency
MDF is the share of a range that must defend against a bet so the bettor cannot profit by bluffing any two cards.
Read definitionRange advantage
A player has range advantage when their overall range has more equity, more strong hands, or more profitable pressure on the current board.
Read definitionBlocker
Blockers remove combinations from the opponent’s range and can improve bluff, call, or fold decisions.
Read definitionSPR
SPR is effective remaining stack divided by the current pot.
Read definitionGTO
GTO, or game theory optimal strategy, is a theoretically balanced approach that makes every part of a range difficult to exploit.
Read definitionBB
BB can mean the big blind seat or the unit used to describe stack, pot, and bet sizes in poker.
Read definitionBTN
BTN refers to the button seat, which has position on every postflop street in common no-limit hold’em formats.
Read definitionVPIP
VPIP stands for voluntarily put money in pot and excludes forced blinds.
Read definitionSRP
A single-raised pot keeps stack-to-pot ratio higher than a three-bet pot and usually contains wider caller ranges.
Read definitionC-bet
A c-bet continues preflop aggression on the flop, turn, or river.
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