Would u rather:

1) always be dealt top 50% of hands in HE

2) always have the dealer button

assume 6max

What is your reasoning, and would it be different if u were playing 50NL or 400NL?

You forgot "bastard"

Here is one way to think about it. There are many others, I'm sure.

In 6 hands, you get the top 50% 3 times on average. So getting it 6 times per round, gives you a 2 to 1 gain in frequency per round. You get the button only once so getting it 6 times gives you a 6 to 1 gain. So, unless top 50% benefit is worth 3 times the button benefit (6/2), I'll take the button.

Data I saw from thousands of hands showed that the EV for the button is about twice that of middle position. I showed the graph of EV versus position in another thread.

Poker Stove shows that in a 6-max game, having a top 50% hand against 5 opponents with random hands wins 21% of the time. But, it is not likely all 5 opponents will call but those that do call will likely have better hands. So, if we assume two opponents, one random and one at 30%, top 50% wins about 1/3 of the time.

Therefore, taking the button all the time gives you a doubling of EV. Getting top 50% all the time gives you a 1/3 win probability against the 1/6 you had before -- assuming all opponents have ability equal to yours. So, you get double benefit in each case. However, as stated earlier, you get the button benefit six times more than normal but the hand benefit only two times as often. Since the benefit of each is about equal, using the argument above, the frequency benefit of the button option makes that the preferred choice.

Admittedly, there is a lot of questionable aspects to this analysis, so I am not saying it is the absolute right answer, by any means.

With the previous post in mind, perhaps the question should be top 50% of hands vs. top 50% of positions (meaning, you would always be button cutoff, or hijack, but you would still pay your blinds).

Ok, totally scientific reasoning. On the button my winrate is three times the average. I can assume that I do not play any hands in the lower 50%, so getting dealt only top 50% doubles the hands I can play, and thus doubles my winrate. Since 3 > 2 I'll go for the button.

Edit: My data is based on full ring though.

My initial reaction would be to take the button, but after thinking about it...

I think it may be more profitable to take the top 50%. I assume that I would be getting premium hands twice as often as I do now. My table image would be boarderline maniac. I would be going absolutely nuts from the CO and BTN. I would be getting action from the whole table, especially thinking players playing back at me from the blinds. Considering that my range will be half of what they think it is, I would be stacking lots of players.