Suited Connectors
Current Roll: $7058
I must have had aces and kings 7 times within 40 hands, and they held every time. Incredible. No huge pots though, just a bunch of small ones. But, I'll take a small pot over losing a big one any day.
I have a thing for suited connectors, 67 - TJ 0 gaps and I also like the 97s - J9s one gaps. On good, loose tables I tend to call out of position or I will cold call raises. Mathematically, the long run EV of doing this is certainly positive under the right conditions, but it's hard to judge implied odds, etc. My anecdotal experience says that I win huge pots with these things under the right conditions, and these are often easy to let go when the flop doesn't hit me hard.
Unsuited, I normally fold these without thinking, but being suited is a strong advantage. Not only do you have the extra chance of winning, but you have more reasons to play aggressively.
The best conditions are when you have a bunch of players that overplay their hands, take flops with any ace, any suited, any connector, any pair, can't read a board, chase with any draw whatsoever including small pairs, etc. I will take flops with more speculative hands under these conditions because I will be paid off.
Anyways, today I hit two notable, big pots playing suited connectors. First hand, I have 97 diamonds in early position. UTG raises, UTG+1 calls and so do I, the button reraises and UTG caps. Granted, my original call was very loose, looser than I usually play, but it was a really good table. My current pot odds forced the second call. The flop of JTT (two diamonds) is 6 handed. Checked to me, I bet my straight flush draw and get check raised by the big blind, now a 3 way pot. Turn is the flush Q, checked to me and I bet the turn and river. BB shows J9o and I rake in a huge pot.
The other hand I have 78s on the button, one raise to me. I call, the BB 3 bets and the OB caps. Another 6 handed, capped pot. The flop is 975 one of my suit. BB bets out, a few callers, LP raises and I 3 bet it. My reasoning is that I'm certainly a favorite against overcards, so I want to make them pay or get out even if I'm slightly behind. This pot is huge and I want to win it anyway I can. If the turn is unfavorable, mabye I can take a free card. And I want to know where I stand relative the others. When the LP caps it, I'm thinking that I could be very far behind, probably a set. Anyways, the turn is a wonderful 6 and I rake in another huge pot when the river is a Q.
The guy said it was 'the ultimate suckout' on his pkt 5's (my poker calculator gave me 20% odds heads up, and my EV climbs with more people in, depending on their holding). There was plenty in the pot to call here, and if you're going to call, why not raise :) Anyways, he could have been raising lite and it was worth the extra money to find out, drive out overcards (giving me a better chance to win this huge pot), and possibly getting a free card on the turn.
Also, I'm not as sure about taking a flop with pkt 5's in this spot. I'd rather have 87s here than 5's anyday. I've called two bets and folded for two more with smaller pairs like 5's; with essentilly two outs they're just too speculative and it's easy to lose even if you hit. Though in this case there were so many people in I could agree with his decision to try to hit a flop, but I wouldn't be happy about it.
Anyways, this is how I like to play suited connectors. I believe it's +EV when done correctly under the right conditions. And it's a lot more fun to play some more speculative hands now and then :) And don't forget the tilt factor; when someone hits a huge hand and gets sucked out! And the fish factor, when someone sees you win with speculative hands, they may think you could play any two.
I must have had aces and kings 7 times within 40 hands, and they held every time. Incredible. No huge pots though, just a bunch of small ones. But, I'll take a small pot over losing a big one any day.
I have a thing for suited connectors, 67 - TJ 0 gaps and I also like the 97s - J9s one gaps. On good, loose tables I tend to call out of position or I will cold call raises. Mathematically, the long run EV of doing this is certainly positive under the right conditions, but it's hard to judge implied odds, etc. My anecdotal experience says that I win huge pots with these things under the right conditions, and these are often easy to let go when the flop doesn't hit me hard.
Unsuited, I normally fold these without thinking, but being suited is a strong advantage. Not only do you have the extra chance of winning, but you have more reasons to play aggressively.
The best conditions are when you have a bunch of players that overplay their hands, take flops with any ace, any suited, any connector, any pair, can't read a board, chase with any draw whatsoever including small pairs, etc. I will take flops with more speculative hands under these conditions because I will be paid off.
Anyways, today I hit two notable, big pots playing suited connectors. First hand, I have 97 diamonds in early position. UTG raises, UTG+1 calls and so do I, the button reraises and UTG caps. Granted, my original call was very loose, looser than I usually play, but it was a really good table. My current pot odds forced the second call. The flop of JTT (two diamonds) is 6 handed. Checked to me, I bet my straight flush draw and get check raised by the big blind, now a 3 way pot. Turn is the flush Q, checked to me and I bet the turn and river. BB shows J9o and I rake in a huge pot.
The other hand I have 78s on the button, one raise to me. I call, the BB 3 bets and the OB caps. Another 6 handed, capped pot. The flop is 975 one of my suit. BB bets out, a few callers, LP raises and I 3 bet it. My reasoning is that I'm certainly a favorite against overcards, so I want to make them pay or get out even if I'm slightly behind. This pot is huge and I want to win it anyway I can. If the turn is unfavorable, mabye I can take a free card. And I want to know where I stand relative the others. When the LP caps it, I'm thinking that I could be very far behind, probably a set. Anyways, the turn is a wonderful 6 and I rake in another huge pot when the river is a Q.
The guy said it was 'the ultimate suckout' on his pkt 5's (my poker calculator gave me 20% odds heads up, and my EV climbs with more people in, depending on their holding). There was plenty in the pot to call here, and if you're going to call, why not raise :) Anyways, he could have been raising lite and it was worth the extra money to find out, drive out overcards (giving me a better chance to win this huge pot), and possibly getting a free card on the turn.
Also, I'm not as sure about taking a flop with pkt 5's in this spot. I'd rather have 87s here than 5's anyday. I've called two bets and folded for two more with smaller pairs like 5's; with essentilly two outs they're just too speculative and it's easy to lose even if you hit. Though in this case there were so many people in I could agree with his decision to try to hit a flop, but I wouldn't be happy about it.
Anyways, this is how I like to play suited connectors. I believe it's +EV when done correctly under the right conditions. And it's a lot more fun to play some more speculative hands now and then :) And don't forget the tilt factor; when someone hits a huge hand and gets sucked out! And the fish factor, when someone sees you win with speculative hands, they may think you could play any two.
posted by mike at 5:02 PM
1 Comments:
Damien - Thanks for reading my blog and your positive comments! I have mentioned trouble flops before, my least favorite position is getting a lot of action when I have two pair and the flop is 3 to a straight. It's a tough call between pushing and folding.
I find putting someone on a straight as one of the harder reads to make. When the flush card comes, it's easier to think they may have flushed. But if a straight card comes, it's harder to just check it; and if they raise you on a straight card you have to wonder if they hit the straight, or a second pair, trips, have been slowplaying or...doing the strange things that 2/4 players so often do.
What limits do you play?
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