Which would you choose?

[ACG2x]

OK, kinda unsure if this belongs here so if it's in the wrong place, my apologies. I thought that Theory was the place that best fit.

You are granted one of two abilities whenever you are playing poker. These would apply to playing any game that uses community cards. The choices are-

<font color="blue">1) - You will be able to know all opponent's hole/down cards in addition to your own from the time they are dealt. Your opponents will not know that you know this. You will not have the ability listed in #2.

2) - You will be able to know all community cards that are coming preflop as soon as all players get their cards and before any action has started. You will not however, be able to know what your opponents hole cards are (unless you make a regular read of course). Again, your opponents will not know that you know this.</font>

You can only pick one and picking that one guarantees that you will never have the other.

Which will it be?

[Triantafylidis]

Horrible question. Why would you ever choose talent # 2?
The first talent clearly lets you know whether you are winning the hand after the cards are run out. Who cares if you are ahead preflop? How many pre flop all ins have you ever seen in a live 2/5 NL game? Maybe 1 every 2 hours. Maybe. Terrible question, *pukes*

[OrangeKing]

This question gets asked a lot - I think the clear answer is knowing all of your opponents' hole cards, as you get much more reliable information and can play theoretically perfectly on the river. You will never make a mistake. Knowing all the community cards is very helpful, of course, and also gives a huge edge to you, but not quite as big - you will occasionally lose big pots when you think you have the best hand and can still be put to tough decisions.

[Mibbbbbbb....]

A lot of people on stars have chosen the 2nd one because they sure can't read [censored]

[Albert Moulton]

If a loose player raises in a NL 100bb game to 4bb from LP and you have 33 in the blinds, talent #1 allows you to call and NEVER get stacked in a set over set situation. Talent #1 also lets you c/c villain's cb if he has missed AK on a low flop or c/r all-in to protect your small pair of dueces vs the overcards. But talent #2 just lets you know if a set is coming by the river. It doesn't let you know if villain will have a higher set (or flush or straight). So, there are virtually no reverse implied odds with talent #1. Moreover, with talent #1 you can bluff more successfully in small and medium pots when you now a guy has TT on a KQ flop and he makes a continuation bet. So, you never get the money in unless it is +EV to do so either because you have the best hand or you have a lot of fold equity.

With talent #2, however, you can still make your hand and lose a big pot. But you can't bluff successfully as often because you never know what villain has. So the combination of not being able to bluff at small pots plus occasionally getting killed for your stack when you make your hand, makes #2 much worse than #1.

[masman21]

The only time could see knowing the board preflop is when you're dealt one gappers or connected cards. Like someone else mentioned, knowing your set of 3s is coming can still be a negative proposition. I would say knowing opponents cards would allow you much more room to bluff and take advantage of position and reads on people.

[Rek]

If you can grant the wish please give me either. Doyle here I come

[Rhound50]

Knowing the flop is good, you will never again waste money calling raises with PP and not flopping a set.

Knowing opponents hole cards just makes it to easy. At this point it all becomes math. Are you getting the right pot odds + implied odds to draw out? Not to mention the bluffing opportunities.

[lamgabejambo]

It really depends on which game. If it is a loose NL game with only 30 bb or less, I'd take knowing the community board. It's because the game is mostly played preflop. What makes poker more skill base is because world class players spend time to deduce what their opponents have, not knowing what the community cards are before they come out. Therefore, I'd take skill number 1 with all the other games.

[jstill]

i think 1 for sure