How to read an EV loss

Every graded decision in a hand review comes with a number in big blinds: the EV loss. It's the most useful number on the screen, and the easiest to misread. Here's what it says, and what it doesn't.

EV is an average, not a result

EV, or expected value, is what a decision wins or loses on average if you could play the same spot many times against the same range of hands. It's measured in big blinds (bb), so a hand at 0.25/0.50 and one at 2/5 read the same way.

The result of one hand is a single draw from that average. You can make the right call and lose the pot, or a poor call and win it. The review grades the decision, not the outcome, which is why a hand you won can still show a mistake.

EV loss is the gap to the best option

For each decision, the solver works out the EV of every option it considers: fold, check, call, and a few bet or raise sizes. The EV loss is the gap between the best of those options and the one you took. The best play has an EV loss of zero.

Why the grade depends on the pot

The same 1 bb means more in a 6 bb pot than in a 150 bb pot. That's why the grades (Best, Good, Inaccuracy, Mistake, Blunder) are judged against the size of the pot, while the bb figure stays as it is. The grade tells you how poor a choice was for that spot; the bb tells you how much it cost.

What the number doesn't tell you

• It's an estimate from a model. The solver works with a handful of bet sizes and with ranges estimated from the betting so far, so very small gaps are within its precision. When two options are that close, the review ranks them as equal instead of calling one a mistake.
• It assumes your opponent plays the range the model gives them. Against a player who never bluffs the river, a fold the solver dislikes can be right. That's a read, and it's yours to make.
• It isn't money. EV loss is about how a decision does over many hands, not about this pot.

How to use it

1. Sort your hands by costliest mistakes, not by result. Big losing pots stick in memory; costly decisions often don't.
2. Look at the spot, not only the hand. One expensive river call is a hand to learn from; the same call in ten hands is a leak.
3. Read the options, not only the verdict. The frequencies show whether the solver mixes, and how close your choice was.
4. Leave demo numbers out of your conclusions. When the review says its numbers are a demo, they're placeholders, not advice.

An EV loss points to where your study time pays off. A session without mistakes is rare. A session where you know which three decisions to look at is within reach every time.