Required Equity
Also known as: required equity, equity needed, break-even equity
The minimum equity a hand needs for a given action to break even — for a call, it equals your pot odds.
Required equity is the break-even threshold for any action: the share of the pot your hand must win to make the line EV-neutral. For a call it is identical to pot odds:
\[ \text{required equity} = \frac{\text{call}}{\text{pot}+\text{call}} \]
Beat it and you profit; fall short and you don't (ignoring future streets). The decision rule is simply: continue when actual equity ≥ required equity. For a draw, get the actual side from outs via the Rule of 2 and 4.
Two refinements matter. First, implied odds and reverse implied odds shift the effective requirement up or down by accounting for future money. Second, in tournaments the chip-EV requirement understates reality: a bubble factor above 1 multiplies the equity you actually need, because busting costs more than doubling gains. For aggressive lines, the related threshold is the bluff breakeven percentage on fold frequency rather than equity.
Example
Facing a half-pot bet — villain bets 50 into 100 — you call 50 into a final pot of 200. Required equity \(=\tfrac{50}{200}=25\%\). Your open-ended straight draw has \(8\times2=16\%\) on one card; pure equity falls short, so you need implied odds or fold equity. On the bubble with a bubble factor of 1.3, the effective requirement climbs toward \(25\%\times1.3\approx 33\%\).