EXPECTED VALUE CHART BY POSITION

The Expected Value (EV) or Return of two hole cards is dependent upon a number of factors such as if you are playing at a tight or loose table, who are playing at your table and your position. The table below gives the average Expected Value of your preflop hand (the higher positive, the better expected return) if you play hands reasonably well. The unit for EV is average profit in big bets. Only the preflop hands that have primarily a positive EV have been listed. All the other starting hands have primarily negative EV.

So what do all the figures mean? Basically, any opening hand not listed here have an overall negative EV (often quite large negative EV) which means that you should not really open up with such as hand unless you hold the Big Blind (BB) or potentially the Small Blind (SB). Any hand such as A7, K10 or 22 that have a slight negative or positive EV are called marginal hands. The decision on whether to open or fold such a marginal hand should be based upon the type of players at the table. In essence, you should really only open up with hands that have a positive EV. Notice how important the position at the table is. This is particularly pertinent when there are different type of players. It is good to sit to the left of a loose (and aggressive) player as he/she is likely to raise and you can then make the decision whether to call or fold without having called any previous bets.