Suited Connectors

Generally useless but every once in awhile they hit those completely disguised monster flops and you rake in a huge pot. My question is, in tournaments when are good times to play these hands? Is it ok to call a raise with say 810s on the button? What about 47s or 52s? 23s is rarely played, so where do people generally draw the line? And how much emphasis on position matters in playing these hands? I read somewhere recently that some people prefer 910s rather than AJo in Early Position. This makes sense because suited connectors when they miss (or even when they sorta hit) are pretty easy to get away from. Also they can be really good cards to semi bluff draws with. So when are good times to play these hands and when are bad, and I'm thinking of specifically of tournaments at the moment, but really any general type analysis would be good.

The reason that made me post this FYI is I recently had 1700 chips in a 4$ dollar donkament on Stars and I had 810s on the button, UTG +2 Raised 3xBB which was 300 chips at the time. I folded only to watch the flop come down 9 J Q. The player got one caller and moved all in on the flop immediately. He showed KK.

I died inside a bit.

My thinking was that I didn't really have enough chips at this point to be calling raises with stuff I'm usually going to have to fold to a c-bet. But as it turned out I would have won a huge pot.

Thoughts?

Comments

  • Just think of all the times you fold that to a raiser and see that you would have completely missed. Its a lot. I think theres a time and a place for them. Deepstacked and in position, or if your name is Daniel Negreanu.
  • Don't call cold much at all unless there's multiple callers ahead of you. You will miss the flop a lot and have to fold, plus most of the times you hit that monster flop your opponent will not also have a huge hand and you won't win enough to justify the call..
  • Personally, i like suited connectors. In MTT's, late stage, while most seem to call with PP/Face/Ace, i think alot of players don't suspect others of calling with low/mid-suited connectors. And when they hit, your in great shape to take out the ones who think their KK is good against a 589 board when your holding 67. i see alot of players, including myself getting stung bad against them. Would i shove, or call a 5+ xBB bet preflop with them, probably not. Suited connectors are the type of hand you want to see the flop as cheaply as possible with. If you miss, they are easy to get away from with out much damage to your stack. In the end, thats the whole idea with suited connectors, see that flop as cheap as you can.
  • great fun on a loose limper table. Scary as heck though when you need a draw to complete.

    I prefer suited pairs though....makes everyone a little tilty for some reason......
  • Quinner wrote: »
    My question is, in tournaments when are good times to play these hands? Is it ok to call a raise with say 810s on the button? What about 47s or 52s? 23s is rarely played, so where do people generally draw the line? And how much emphasis on position matters in playing these hands? I read somewhere recently that some people prefer 910s rather than AJo in Early Position.

    I find, and maybe this is just me, but there's a big difference between connectors, 67 78 89 etc, and gappers, 810 47 25. You have to hit perfect to have any chance at winning with those gappers.
  • Dont you have to hit perfect either way?

    The odds of 78 flopping 69T is the same as 57 flopping 469.
  • but if you hit the gapper on the outside you now only have 4 outs instead of 8 for turn and river. so you have to hit it more perfect when you consider the drawing aspect
  • unless i'm deepstacked and/or running over the table, i only really like to play suited connectors/one gap/two gap in position. depending on the style of my opponents, i prefer limping in to a multi-way pot with them, or raising when folded to me in LP. i very rarely like to limp in MTTs, but i will sometimes with suited connectors or low-medium pocket pairs in multi-way pots. looking to hit the flop big, otherwise miss and fold.
  • BiiLLY wrote: »

    The odds of 78 flopping 69T is the same as 57 flopping 469.

    So the odds of making a straight is the same as making a 9 high hand?

    Interesting......
  • Wetts1012 wrote: »
    So the odds of making a straight is the same as making a 9 high hand?

    Interesting......


    wow...I missed seeing the missing 8....this is why I still have donkey status.
  • My first thought - don't be results oriented.

    Suited connectors are iffy. They have both implied and reverse implied odds aspects to them. The better you can read your opponents, the safer it is to play them. If you're deep against people who don't fold post flop, they go up in value a lot. If your opponents are great hand readers, they go down in value a lot.

    Always play them in position. Never play them out of position. Someone said once they were better in raised pots, but I'm not exactly sure if that is true or not.
  • Wetts1012 wrote: »
    So the odds of making a straight is the same as making a 9 high hand?

    Interesting......

    lol
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