headsup theory question

[sthief09]

A3s is obviously a favorite over KJo. But KJo holds up better against all random hands. So which hand would you rather have headsup? Or does it depend on the situation (ie when you raise it's better to have KJo but when facing a raise A3s is better)?

In the past I have always thought of the hand with the better high card being better, but I never thought of how the hands play against other hands. If I had a choice between being dealt KQo 50 times or A2o 50 times, I think I'd take KQ. Is this wrong?

[King Yao]

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But KJo holds up better against all random hands.

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Could you explain what you mean by this sentence? Do you mean KJo versus 76 is better than A3o is against 76? (which would seem logical to me)

For me, the major factor is how your opponent plays. If he is the type to keep betting from pre-flop thru river even with nothing, I'd prefer A3o. Against players who will call down all the time, I'd rather have KJo.

[BugsBunny]

HU I'd rather have the KJo.

Assuming neither hits the A3s will win. But if both hands hit the KJ will win more often since the A3 would have to hit the A while the KJ would beat the paired 3 with either a K or a J. same principle is at work against other random hands since the KJ has 2 overcards to the majority of hands while A3s only has 1.

A3s has significantly better flush potential, but KJ has better straight potential. But in HU play neither of those is very important in comparison to other factors.

Against random hands the KJ does better than A3 (60.6% as opposed to 58.2%) If you run them against the hands Sklansky recommends calling raises from in the BB when HU then KJ is still better, by an even larger margin (44.8% to 39.7%).

A3s does better than the KJo if you limit the hands to some real strong hands. So if opponent can have: AA-99, AKs-ATs, KQs-KJs, QJs, JTs, AKo-AJo, KQo then the A3s gets 38.5% while KJo goes down to 32.6%.

So if I raise and get reraised I'm happier with the A3s, otherwise I'll take the KJo.

[gonores]

A2o is approximately a 3:2 favorite over KQo. However, I think either hand could be considered "more desireable" depending on your opponent, or, more specifically, his readability.

[sthief09]

Sorry, I was half-asleep when I wrote it and it didn't make sense.

What I meant was that KJo holds up better against 1 random hand than A3s, despite the fact that A3s will win ~6 out of 10 times headsup against KJo