burnt valve and head gasket question

[badvibes]

Had no compression in #2 and finally got around to pulling the head this past weekend. Including a picture of the burned valve for your viewing pleasure. But this made my buddy Scott wonder about the head gasket. Near cyl #1 and cyl #2 the gasket has 1 opening obstructed and 2 others open with just a small hole, as opposed to all the other ports for water being open fully. Anybody know why this is? Being a not mechanically inclined person myself I would think they should all be open fully, obviously there is a reason they're not.

Jeff

[I Leak Oil]

I believe it's to get more flow back to cylinders 3 & 4 which tend to get a little warmer.