5 super villians playing poker. Who wins?

Once upon a time 5 super villains were trapped in a magnetic prison with nothing else to do than play short handed no-limit Holdem. They each secretly had a special ability related to the game.

Villain1 was faster than light. Seeing the hole cards, if he wanted he could choose two new random cards from the deck before the betting started. He could only do it once per hand dealt to him.

Villain2 had X-ray vision. He could see the first card of the flop before the betting started (He could not see any other cards).

Villain3 was psychic. He knew the river card before any betting started.

Villain4 was telepathic. He could read the cards of one villian of his choice at the start of each game before any betting has happened. (It did however escape him that Villain1 sometimes changed his hand).

Villain5 exercised mind control but it could only be triggered if an ace hit the river. In that case he could convince (if he wished) everyone that the pot was his without any betting in that round. He had to be in the pot however, to make the convincing argument.

Villain6 had struk a deal with the devil. Every hole card he was dealt always turned out to be greater than 5 (6-A).

The villains each used their special ability to the best of their knowledge, they were good poker players but they did not know of each others abilities and they were unable to pick up on each others abilities during the play.

Now the question is:
Which player would stand the best chance of winning in the long run? Who has the best ability?
List their abilities from best to worst if possible.

Villian 1. Having essentially twice as many hands increases the odds of havign premium starting hands, and thus being at an advantage over the other players, 50% more offen.

[vexvelour]

This sounds like you're playing with the XMen.

I like Villian 3.

[ QUOTE ]
Villian 1. Having essentially twice as many hands increases the odds of havign premium starting hands, and thus being at an advantage over the other players, 50% more offen.

[/ QUOTE ]

Continuing this logic would result in Villian 6 having the second best advantage, as she would have a greater chance of getting premium starting hands... mind you, we could cut 44-22 out of her range.

Villain6's and Villain1's power are both pretty useless IMO (compared to the others). Villain2's power is pretty good, but Villain3's is far superior. At the flop, Villain3 would know 6 of the 7 cards in his hand. Villain5 wins some extra pots, but holding an Ace hurts his chances. Villain4's is useful, especially if it's something like blind stealing, but overall I'd rate them:

Villain3
Villain2
Villain4
Villain5
Villain6
Villain1

Now, if this was a tournament setting, I'd take Villain4's.

You can't pick up on their abilities though, even though you think you might be able to. :-p

Villian 3 would have a very interesting approach to backdoor draws...

[jba]

villain 3 in a landslide.

[AaronBrown]

I have Villain 1's power, I just fold some of my hands. I have to pay a little more in blinds, that's all. Assuming he normally plays one-third of his hands, he pays (sb + bb)/2 in blinds per played hand. His power allows him to reduce this to (sb + bb)/3.25. Over the long run, this would be a handy addition to EV, but it wouldn't make me rich.

I also have Villain 6's power for the same reason. Think of him as throwing away hands with 2-5 in them. The powers are about equally valuable, 6 gets rid of 53% of his hands versus 70% for 1, and not all the ones 6 gets rid of are bad; but he replaces with better than random cards.

Clearly 3's power is more valuable than 2's, because his extra information stays private longer. Both of them are going to fold some marginal hands preflop, because the extra card doesn't help them, but that doesn't save much money. The real advantage comes in playing some hands that would otherwise be folded. For example J3 is a much better hand if you know another J is coming on the river. Similarly, a suited hand with a match on the board is almost always playable.

4's power will rarely make a difference. The player he picks has to stay in the pot, and 4 has to have everyone beat, and the situation has to be such that the 4 would think the picked player had him beat if he hadn't peaked. So maybe one hand in 100 4 wins instead of losing; but maybe 1 out of 20 of those he loses all in to player 1. That's better than 1 and 6, but nothing like 2 and 3.

Villain 5 is similar. Say 1 hand in 20 he's got a losing hand at showdown, and 1 time in 13 he wins anyway because an Ace showed up on the river. I think that's less often than villain 4's power will operate, but 5's will occur on larger pots and he doesn't have to worry about player 1 switching.

Of course, all these calculations depend how everyone plays. In a really loose game, 2 and 3's power are less valuable while the others are more valuable. In a super tight game, the reverse is true.

[Guernica4000]

[ QUOTE ]
Once upon a time 5 super villains were trapped in a magnetic prison...

Villain1
Villain2
Villain3
Villain4
Villain5
Villain6


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OK I'll be the first ass to point it out.