Value of Suited Connectors

[eaglezoners]

Suited connectors are one more arrow in the poker play's quiver. This is important, as when you play a variety of hands, you become somewhat less easy to read.

They certainly play best at the earlier stages of tourneys. Here, more people will call a hand making a draw more profitable. A few admonitions: playing very low ones gives you the potential for only a weak flush. Also, any pairs you might make are necessarily low; so suited connectors are not all equal.

As the tourney progresses and raises get larger and less people are in hands, the suited connectors lose value as the draws now become unprofitable. This is all the more accentuated when a table becomes shorthanded or if you are playing at a table of 6. :p

[johnnas]

thats good to know. it depend on my mood sometimes hard to stay focused

[Mist]

I, like many other poker players, think that suited connectors look pretty. The thing is, people seem to overvalue these type of hands a LOT, and feel like playing them everytime, no matter the situation.

You will often see players like Daniel Negreanu, Gus Hansen, Phil Ivey etc.. play these hands, but the big difference between these pokergiants and our Average Joe is that they know when to get rid of them and when not to play them.

I myself geneally play suited connectors when I have the proper odds to do so (pot and implied) + a stack that affords me to play them.

These aren't the type of hands you call major all-ins with and limp with from EP. SC are hands that you should generally only play when you have the proper odds to do so, because eventhough they look really pretty, it's only a very mediocre hand.

[Fonzi]

I agree with everything you said except for limping with them from early position. On a tight table I'll limp with almost any connectors. My reason for it is deception. If I flop the nuts it will be very hard for the other players to put me on that hand.

[khicks26]

his 3bet is very light with AA. was he slow playing pre-flop? gave you good odds to call. his raise should be like 31/2 to 4 times your raise. if he does this do you fold the hand preflop? he played the hand bad. did'nt protect his hand pre-flop. and had to know he was beat on the river.

[xxmommaxx]

When I'm dealt suited connectors, the first thing I think about is my table position. Generally, if I'm in early position, I fold. One reason I might raise would be if I knew the rest of the table were likely to fold and I could steal some blinds. :o

In mid/later positons, I may call, depending on who and how many were already in the pot. I may even raise in the blinds, but I think my main objective when playing suited connectors is to see the flop..cheap.

If I made it to the flop for cheap along with 3 or 4 other people and I hit the straight/flush draw or if I'm really lucky the straight or flush itself on the flop...I'm in business.

Of course, poker is poker...and I often get burned by those pretty little suited connectors, but when they hit...it's kinda fun..;)

[Bluesfan5]

Originally Posted by YellowRoses

I like suited connectors, but for some reason they never hit for me.

I'm the same way, whenever I play them it never hits. But thats just the way it goes for me.:)

[Froedo]

Lets first make a definition of suited connectors: Any 2 connected or partly connected suited cards below T. I don't consider AKs and QKs as suited connectors in this situation as there is other things to take into consideration when playing this type of hand.
There isn't a rule of when to play suited connectors. However, there is some things you should take into consideration before playing them:

1) How many BB's do you/the opponents in the pot have left? Ís it worth it compared to the size of your stack you are risking playing this type of hand?

2) If you are deep enough, will your opponent(s) be loose enough to pay you off when you hit or have a good enough hand (AA, KK, QQ etc.) to pay you off when you hit?

2b) Defining your opponents hand. Are you actually able to define your opponents hand? I would always prefer being up against AA with 89suited rather than being up against 9Tsuited. Why? You can lose a lot of money against 9Tsuited but you can usually either lose only a little money or win a lot against AA. You have to be willing to fold a flopped top pair to a raise on the flop if you play this type of hands. You have to take into consideration that your kicker will be useless.


3) Table image. Playing this type of hand obviously affects your image. There isn't a reason to think that a loose image is bad, but you have to take this into consideration as well

4) Preflop action/Deception. Remember, if you sometimes raise and sometimes limp you will have to sometimes raise with weak hands and sometimes limp with strong hands. Never, ever, ever be predictable. Do not raise accordingly to the strenght of your hand!

5) Risk/Reward analysis. I know many people prefer playing suited connectors at the early stages. I prefer playing them at late stages due to the fact that pick up not only the blinds but also the antes if my opponents folds to my raise (I rarely limp). My philosophy is to raise with more hands when you pick up more compared to what you risk. Also, people tend to tighten up at late stages because of the ladder principal (you get more money the deeper you get). This means it is sometimes possible to steal with 2.5x BB raises even when antes are on!

6) You position. I always prefer having position. I dont mind reraising with 67suited on the button because it gives me a chance to pick up the pot right now and if one of my opponents call 67suited will be the last hand he expects me to have so IF i get a call I can either easily get away from the hand or win a lot against my opponents high pocket pair.

I probably forgot a ton of things to take into consideration. I hope this gives you an idea of how to decide whether to play or fold your suited connectors. Try to experiment untill you have found a style you think is profitable. Some players have succes playing a tight/aggresive style. Some players have succes playing a loose/aggresive style. There isn't one right way to play.

This is advices on how to play the suited connectors from one of the guys i play with. He is a math genius and a very skilled player :) So this is not my typing or advice but the ones i normally use :) Hope you can use them to.

[Bluesfan5]

The thing that pisses me off about play suited connectors is that if I get a flush or strait draw it seems like I end up chaseing the rest of the hand and someone sucks out on fifth street with a A or K.

[Fonzi]

Originally Posted by Bluesfan5

The thing that pisses me off about play suited connectors is that if I get a flush or strait draw it seems like I end up chaseing the rest of the hand and someone sucks out on fifth street with a A or K.

You're playing them wrong. It's ok to chase as long as it's cheap to chase, if it's not, then you have to let the hand go.