UTH 4x raise T9s?

Playing around in equilab, I noticed that T9s [10♥9♥] has a slightly higher equity (54.09%) than K2s (53.21%) even though the preflop 4x raising strategy for UTH says T9s is a check and that K2s is a raise. Would anyone know why this might be?

It's also interesting to note you do not raise a hand with 50% equity or more against a random hand. You do not even raise a hand that wins 50% or more. The cutoff is around 53% equity and ~52% win rate. Remember, equity counts ties. The raise (play) bet is a fair bet that should break even if you raised every hand, unaffected by the dealer qualifying, so you would think raising hands with 50+% equity would be the strategy

Quote: richodude

Playing around in equilab, I noticed that T9s [10♥9♥] has a slightly higher equity (54.09%) than K2s (53.21%) even though the preflop 4x raising strategy for UTH says T9s is a check and that K2s is a raise. Would anyone know why this might be?

It's also interesting to note you do not raise a hand with 50% equity or more against a random hand. You do not even raise a hand that wins 50% or more. The cutoff is around 53% equity and ~52% win rate. Remember, equity counts ties. The raise (play) bet is a fair bet that should break even if you raised every hand, unaffected by the dealer qualifying, so you would think raising hands with 50+% equity would be the strategy
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Part of the 10,9 (suited) equity, in comparison to K,2 (suited) comes from the greater potential for a straight flush. In terms of the Blind Bet, straight flush pays 50:1. Additionally, the 10,9 doesn't sacrifice any royal flush equity, in comparison, because both need all four other royal cards.

Additionally, not that it's going to happen a ton, but if both player and dealer end up with a Flush, the dealer would have to have an Ace-High flush (and be playing the Ace) to beat the K,2 player whereas there are four unknown cards (J-A) that the dealer could have and beat a Flush with the player either playing ten, or playing both, ten and nine.

I used Wizard’s online calculator to study these two hands. The 10,9 suited hand has a safely positive EV for either checking or raising, whereas the 2,K suited hand has a slightly negative EV for both decisions. Therefore, either checking or raising is fine for both hands, depending on your neighbor’s cards.

Yeah, the criterion for the 4X bet is that it has a higher EV than the check Bet. The T9s is a hand in which you benefit tremendously from the additional information you get on the flop because it has potential flush draw and straight draw possibilities. If the flop brings no suited cards (or only one suited card) and no straight possibilities then it has low equity and you clearly want to check again and then fold or bet 1x on the river. If the flop improves the T9s and gives you draws to a flush or straight then you are happily betting 2x. So the flop information has unusually high value. Your preflop bet was check because you want the unusually valuable information from the flop before you make a wager decision.

With the K2s, the flop info is less important because you have no straight possibilities and because pairing the two brings marginally small benefit. Most of your equity with K2s comes from the prospects of pairing the King, so the three cards on the flop only represent a normal amount of information to inform your subsequent decisions.