As explained in a previous example, poker strategies are built around equity. We stated that if a situation comes up where we can make our opponent fold equity vs our hand, we bet for protection. The more equity he folds, the more we bet.
However, if it was as simple as that we would all easily make the correct decisions, this is only part of the complete story. Another important way strategies make EV in poker, is to realize as much of your own equity as possible. High EV strategies are designed in a way that prevents having to fold a hand that has good equity before the river, an open-ended straight draw or a flush draw for example.
So when do we have control over our own equity realization? The best situation to illustrate this is when we are IP and we have to decision if we want to bet or check. Does betting lead to low equity realization for my hand? Do we often get raised for example and ultimately have to fold our hand before the river? If so, and we are not happy about that due to the amount of equity we are folding we might want to reconsider betting and going for the check instead.
In these situations always look ahead to the amount of aggression we can expect from our opponent in the various lines available and choose the action vs which we will face the lowest aggression and thus realize our equity.