EV
also called expected value
Expected value, or EV, is the average result of a decision if you could repeat it many times: every outcome multiplied by how often it happens, added together.
It is the only honest way to judge a decision, because a single hand tells you almost nothing. A call can be right and lose, and a call can be wrong and win. What decides which it was is the average, not the result you happened to get.
The arithmetic is plainer than the name suggests. Work out what you win when it goes well, what you lose when it does not, and how often each happens.
an example
your cards
board
The pot is 100 and your opponent bets 50 on the river. Calling risks 50 to win 150. If you win 30% of the time, the average is 0.30 times 150 minus 0.70 times 50, which is plus 10. You lose that call seven times out of ten and it is still the right one.
This example is made up. The real one is in your own hand history: find ev in your own hands and see how often it came up and what it cost you.
related terms
Pot odds
Pot odds are the price you are offered on a call: what you have to put in compared with what the pot would be worth to y ...
Variance
Variance is the spread of short term results around the long run average, which is why a run of winning or losing sessio ...
GTO
Game theory optimal play, usually shortened to GTO, means playing a strategy so balanced that no counter strategy can be ...
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Knowing the word is not the same as seeing it.
Forty hands against a bot, no account, and your own hand history at the end.