Subquery v/s inner join in sql server

I have following queries

First one using inner join

SELECT item_ID,item_Code,item_Name 
FROM [Pharmacy].[tblitemHdr] I INNER JOIN  EMR.tblFavourites F ON I.item_ID=F.itemID
WHERE F.doctorID = @doctorId AND F.favType = 'I'

second one using sub query like

SELECT item_ID,item_Code,item_Name from [Pharmacy].[tblitemHdr]
WHERE item_ID IN
(SELECT itemID FROM EMR.tblFavourites
WHERE doctorID = @doctorId AND favType = 'I'
)

In this item table [Pharmacy].[tblitemHdr] Contains 15 columns and 2000 records. And [Pharmacy].[tblitemHdr] contains 5 columns and around 100 records. in this scenario which query gives me better performance?

The SQL Server query analyzer is smart enough to understand that these queries are identical (given that item_ID is unique in EMR.tblFavourites for a certain doctorID/favType pair).

They should yield exactly the same execution plan, and thus they are equal in terms of performance. I would prefer second variant though...

StackExchange Code Review Q#19962, answer score: 3