Equity
Your share of the pot based on the probability your hand will win if all remaining cards were dealt out.
Definition
Equity is the percentage of the time a hand (or a range of hands) is expected to win the pot if the current situation were played to showdown many times. It is effectively your mathematical claim on the pot: a hand with 60% equity 'owns' 60% of the pot on average. Equity is compared against pot odds to make calling decisions and is central to profitable betting. It can be measured for a specific hand against another specific hand, or, more usefully, for your whole range against an opponent's whole range. 'Fold equity' is a related but distinct idea: the extra value you gain from the chance an opponent folds to your bet.
Worked example
All-in preflop, a pair of kings has roughly 80% equity against a pair of queens, meaning it wins about four out of five times over the long run, even though it will still lose sometimes.
Why it matters
Learners need equity to understand that even strong hands lose sometimes and that decisions are about long-run averages, not single results. Professionals think almost entirely in terms of range-versus-range equity, which drives bet sizing, bluffing, and value-betting frequencies.