Favorite over random hands?

[FlyingStart]

Against one opponent I know that Q7 or better is a favorite against a random hand. But really is 'better' here? In an allin showdown heads up any unpaired hand with both cards lower than queen would have the worst of it, so what hands should you consider 'better' when playing heads up?

I also wonder where the line is drawn against two or three opponent also. Not just to be better than average, but more than 50% chance that you are better than both..

[AaronBrown]

Heads up all in, you can rank the hands in poker order: first the pairs, Ace to 2, then by high card, for equal high cards, take the hand with the better second card.

Straights and flushes are tricky. Generally, suited connectors are about as good as unsuited hands with one higher and one lower card. But that doesn't give a clean rank order. 7h 6h is about even with Ks 2c, but will usually lose to 9c 8s; even though the Ks 2c beats 9c 8s most of the time.

[AaronBrown]

Here is the ranking based on actual money won and lost in heads up play (not necessarily all-in) at Poker Room (http://www.pokerroom.com/games/evstats/positionStats.php?players=2). This does not conform exactly to the mathematical probability of winning a showdown, but it's pretty close. Anyway, it's a different way to address the question.

AA
KK
QQ
JJ
TT
99
AKs
AQs
88
AK
AJs
KQs
AQ
77
ATs
A9s
KTs
AJ
KJs
66
AT
QJs
QTs
A8s
KQ
KJ
A7s
JTs
A6s
T9s
A4s
A3s
K9s
QJ
A5s
J9s
A9
KT
A8
55
K8s
Q9s
QT
JT
A2s
Q8s
J8s
T8s
K7s
44
K9
98s
K6s
K5s
A7
J7s
86s
A6
T9
K4s
Q5s
87s
A5
Q7s
J9
T7s
76s
A4
33
Q9
97s
Q6s
K3s
96s
K2s
A3
K8
J8
Q4s
T8
A2
J6s
Q3s
75s
K6
Q8
J5s
T6s
K7
22
98
J4s
Q7
95s
54s
K5
Q2s
J3s
65s
87
J7
T5s
64s
Q6
63s
76
97
K4
T7
53s
J2s
84s
K3
T4s
85s
43s
86
T3s
T2s
73s
J5
96
65
Q5
J6
K2
94s
T6
74s
Q3
42s
Q4
75
T5
95
93s
J3
32s
J4
92s
83s
62s
85
Q2
J2
84
54
52s
T4
74
64
82s
93
T2
92
53
T3
83
94
73
63
62
43
82
52
72s
42
72
32

[Jordan Olsommer]

[ QUOTE ]
Against one opponent I know that Q7 or better is a favorite against a random hand. But really is 'better' here? In an allin showdown heads up any unpaired hand with both cards lower than queen would have the worst of it, so what hands should you consider 'better' when playing heads up?

I also wonder where the line is drawn against two or three opponent also. Not just to be better than average, but more than 50% chance that you are better than both..

[/ QUOTE ]

here (http://www.gocee.com/poker/HE_Value.htm) is a page that has the answers to all the queries you may have regarding "how does my hand compare to x random hands?"*

for what it's worth, I think Q7 is called the "computer hand" because someone somewhere in the late 70's said that a computer simulation told him that's the worst hand that's still profitable in heads-up hold em. According to the Gocee chart, however, K2o is the worst hand that is still profitable heads-up (Q7 is still profitable, however - suited it has a 2.7% equity edge, and unsuited has a 1.9% equity edge - it's just not the worst of the profitable hands).

*just for completeness, I should mention that there is a slight difference between a hand that is up against x random hands and a hand that is up against x random hands given that y opponents have already folded. This is because if you are at say a 9-handed table and the first six players fold their hands, they are telling you something about the cards that they held (for a very conservative example, in a ring game they're certainly telling you that none of them had AA or KK). It's not a ton of information by any means, but it's some. I have no idea whether or not the distribution of cards left given that y bad hands have been folded means a statistically significant difference regarding the hands that you might be up against, but I just mention it to be clear that acting first in a four-handed game isn't exactly the same as acting fifth in a nine-handed game when four people have already folded in front of you (it would be precisely the same if say you were playing online and the first four people were all sitting out - in that case, they're set to fold anything, so they're just as likely to fold AA as they are 72o).

[FlyingStart]

Ok, thx both. very helpful link