Equity
How equity works
What the equity number means, how Copilot works it out, and why Omaha runs so much closer than Hold’em.
Equity is your share of the pot if the hand were played to the end many times over. 60% means that, from here, you win six times in ten on average, counting a tie as your share of the split pot. It says nothing about how to bet; it tells you how strong your hand is right now.
Monte Carlo, in plain words
Working out every possible finish exactly is slow, so Copilot estimates it the way a careful player might with a deck and a lot of patience. Each time the cards change it repeats four steps a few hundred times, in your browser, with no credit spent:
- Shuffle the cards you cannot see.
- Deal a random hand to each opponent, then the rest of the board.
- Score every hand at showdown.
- Count a win, a split or a loss. Your equity is the share of wins, with each split counted as your share of the pot: half against one other hand, a third against two.
- 200–900run-outs per estimate: 900 in most spots, fewer when there are many hands to score
- ±3points: how far a 900-run estimate near 50% usually lands from the exact answer
So the number can move a point or two between two reads of the same spot. That is the sampling, not a change in your hand.
Who it plays you against
- Before the flop. One random hand, whatever the number of players. The side panel marks it HU, for heads-up.
- After the flop. One random hand for each opponent still in. The side panel marks it vs1, vs2 and so on.
Equity vs a random hand · Hold'em
- A♠
- J♠
| Preflop | 65% |
|---|---|
| Flop | 71% |
| Turn | 62% |
| River | 100% |
- No board yet
An example hand: equity on each street against one random hand.
Hold’em by the numbers
- 1,326different two-card starting hands from a 52-card deck
- 21five-card hands to compare from your 7 cards at showdown; the best one plays
In Hold’em your hand is the best five of the seven cards you can use, in any mix of hole cards and board. Big pairs start well ahead of random hands, which is why preflop equity swings so widely.
Omaha by the numbers
- 270,725different four-card starting hands
- 60five-card hands per board: 6 pairs of hole cards times 10 sets of three board cards
Omaha has one hard rule: a hand uses exactly two hole cards and exactly three board cards. Four hearts in your hand and one on the board is not a flush. Copilot scores every one of the 60 combinations and keeps the best, which makes each run-out about three times the work of Hold’em. Heads-up four-card Omaha still gets the full 900 run-outs; with more opponents, or with five- or six-card Omaha (100 and 150 combinations per board), Copilot runs fewer so the side panel stays quick.
With four cards each, everyone has more ways to make a hand, so equities run much closer: a hand that would be a big favourite in Hold’em is often barely ahead in Omaha. In Hi/Lo games the number is your share of the high half, marked hi.
The Omaha hand read
Beside the equity, Pro shows an exact read of your Omaha hand: what you have made, whether it is the nuts or how far from it, which of the best hands your cards block, your draws, and how many cards give you the nuts. These are counted, not simulated, and the AI gets the same read.
Omaha hand read
Example hand · PLO · flopYour cards
- Q♦
- Q♣
- A♥
- 8♥
Board
- J♥
- T♦
- 9♥
Equity vs a random hand
89%
- Made hand
- Queen-high straight (Q-8 with J-T-9)
- Nut status
- 2nd nuts: only K-Q makes a bigger straight
- Blockers
- Your two queens are in half of the K-Q combos
- Draws
- Nut flush draw in hearts (A♥ 8♥)
- Outs
- 9 of 45 turn cards give you the nuts
An example Omaha read on the flop.
- Free. Equity before the flop.
- Pro and Super. Equity on every street, and the Omaha hand read.
See it at your own table
Copilot is free to install. The HUD and preflop equity work without an account.
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