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.

[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.