small cards with position

Ideas have been thrown around about playing small pocket pairs and small suited connectors with position. Alot of talk and advice always says to see a flop for cheap and trap opponents to win big pots.

If you do play a small pp most advice says you should try to flop a set or be done with the hand because almost every other pair is going to beat you. That's a stradegy that IMO is an easy one to follow. If I am lucky enough to flop a set I know I have a strong hand, but at the same time I can see if I'm going to have the nuts. The only thing that will trick me would be a higher set from a player with a pp. If the board contains a possible straigh, flush, or draw I can obviously see that I may be beaten. I would only continue for very cheap at this point becasue a 4th card to complete a straight or flush almost guarantees I'm done. I may get lucky and the board will pair, but I'm only going to draw for cheap. Basically I am comfortable with this play because I can easily gauge where I stand at all times other than one scenario. Obviously against a very tight player I may be able to determine if he has a higher set.

What about playing small suited connectors? I'm not really comfortable playing these hands even with position. A flush could easily be beaten, and a flopped flush means that i'm going to be beaten already or be drawn out on by a player holding the Ace or maybe the king. A straight draw or flopped straight could create a scenario where I am holding the bottom of the straight and will lose alot of chips. I have a better chance of winning a big pot with the straight than I do with a flush. Somone could beat me with a flush if they hold 7s2s when I have 3s4s, but with a straight I can only be beaten by a small range of hands. For example, I hold 34 and the board is 567xx; the only thing that beats me is 89. 89s is a common hand for people to play if I'm in a multiway pot and I saw a cheap flop. The only scenario that I'm comfortable with is a flop like A25 when I hold that 34. I will get action from anyone holding an Ace, and unless other connecting cards hit, I hold the nuts. That is only one scenario where I am going to guarantee a win. I could win with the short end of a straight against one or two opponents, but I will have to call a preflop raise, or I'm not going to get paid off if I limped and only 2 others did as well. Odds are they won't have a decent hand to pay me off with unless there is a perfect storm. If I have to draw to a straight it will cost me. I will either miss and have no hand, hit and still be beaten by higher connectors, or in the guaranteed nuts case be on a gutshot. (I hold 34, flop is A2x, the 5 is the only card that makes the straight, thus gutshot.) This means that I really need to bluff against 1 or 2 opponents, or hit the perfect flop to win a multiway pot. This scenario seems to be like i'm setting a trap for myself than being a profitable play. Yes in the long run if I win a big pot 1 out of x amount of times it maybe profitable, but statistics can be misleading. I am not a big fan of statisitcs and whether a play works 1 out of 5 makes it profitable. I want to always be profitable, not lose 4x and win 1x to create a net profit because the world and poker aren't a perfect science.

So the point of all of this was to get some advice about playing these small suited connectors. I am debating whether I should only play them for the perfect flop, only use them when I can win by bluffing as well, or just forget them all together. I could draw with them, but as I already stated that is not a good situation IMO.

FYI when I say small suited connectors I'm talking about 65,54,43,32.

1st thing 43s and 23s are not suited connectors.they are considered suited gappers. this is because that have just as good of a chance to hit a str8 as 52s does. and yes you need to bluff with these hands as well to make them profitable in the long run. while set mining can be profitable in the right spots you just cant play SCs to hit or fold. and the value from flushes with these hands will come from back door flushes more than turned flushes. although you can get value from flopped flushes if someone has a draw to a flush. another way to get more value from these hands is to betting and raising your draw as semi bluffs. remember there is only one way to win if you call but 2 ways if you bet.

Depending on the game.. Position is so much more important than the cards anyway.. It really doesn't matter what you are holding in the right circumstances.

So .. play em!

Small pocket pairs with position: Most of the time, yeah you just want to hit your set or fold. If you hit your set and someone makes a flush against you, you're about 1/3 chance to make a full house and if you do the implied odds are very good.
The other play with small pockets is if you can take the flop short handed you can usually take the pot on the flop. Say it's a raised pot and the flop comes 25Q or KK3, neither of these are likely to hit one opponent, and against 2 you're still not in bad shape, chances are your pocket fours are good. If you can see three cards against an upaired hand (holding two overcards to your pair), they're only going to hit one in three times and the instant they miss the flop, they become only a one in four chance to outdraw you. Pocket 4's vs over cards is 50/50, but if you aim to only see the flop, you're a big favourite, and if they want to outdraw you on the turn/river, they're going to have to pay you off. The other option is that you're against an overpair, but the amount of people who will throw away pocket 8's as soon as they see a scare card is insane, if you bet out they'll put you on AK, AQ or whatever you'd need to have to have hit that flop.
Keep in mind that you've got to be able to get away from it when they do hit but you'll know about it when they do, the only complication is when they pick up a flush draw or something and bet/call it can look like a made hand, but usually most opponents figure they're behind and need to hit when they're drawing, so you can usually see a showdown cheaply in this circumstance.


Suited connectors from position:
You're right, when you hold 56s and flop a made flush, more often than not you're not going to win the hand and if you can't get away from it when you're beat, it's going to cost you a lot of money.
You're also right that when you hold 56s and flop a flush draw, someone else could easily be drawing to a bigger flush, because of that this isn't one of those big money earner situations. Let's say you make your flush and it's good, everyone's been on the look out for the flush, and you've either been checking and flat calling or betting the draw (and if you've been betting, you've probably been noticed doing this on a previous hand) and you'll be put on a flush a good amount of the time and aren't going to get paid off. Alternatively, let's say you make your flush and it's not good, you'll know about it because there will be a big re-raise at some stage, if this happens they've got a flush, it could be just as bad as yours (weak flushes are frequently overplayed) but because there aren't that many flushes that are worse than yours, you're probably beat. Even when you make the correct lay down, you'll have lost a good portion of your stack drawing to and then betting your hand.

Then there's the back door flush, this probably is better with bigger cards just because if you've got an over card in your hand it usually gives you better odds to hang around but even with 45s or 56s, often it's worth calling a small bet on the flop even if you don't have a real draw (yet), if there's a back door flush posibility and a back door straight, then there's a lot of cards that would be good for you on the turn, so I'd call a small bet and see the next card, then the turn gives you your draw and you can call/bet accordingly, if you hit it on the river you'll take someone's entire stack a lot of the time (rarely will they put you on it, especially if you called even the smallest bet on the flop).

As for bluffing, the problem here is that you really need outs to make bluffing worthwhile and a lot of the time you're not going to have those outs. If you were playing KQ on any flop without an ace, you've at least got the K and Q as outs if not a straight or flush draw as well, plus your hand has some showdown value as king high (heads up anyway) whilst 56s doesn't have this going for it, you've got to pick up the straight or flush draw, or you're not going to win the hand. Even if your opponent is drawing and they miss, you've got to bet the river or you'll lose the hand, but betting the river into someone who hasn't been scared off on the flop or turn when all you've got is six high is a dangerous thing to do.

Bluffing with small suited connectors is a dangerous thing, my advice is to only bluff here when the situation is perfect for it, like when you get a read that your opponent is drawing and the next card is a blank, steal the pot.
You should be check/folding a whole lot more than bluffing when you miss the flop with these hands.

In position you can play a lot more cards like small pocket pairs or suited connectors, but if you don't know to play after flop better throw away those cards

First: If you flop a set and someone flops a straight or a flush you have good outs.

For instance, you hold 2d2c and the flop is 2h4h6s. Just for simplicity, you KNOW villain has 3c5c. You have 7 outs on the turn to win. three sixes, three 4s, and the case 2. Lets say the turn is the Ace of diamonds. Now you have added another 3 outs. 10 outs on the river.. really flopping a set into a bigger hand isn't AS bad as it sounds. you still are better than a straight draw and better than a flush draw by the last card.

As for connectors... fist of all, 34 is also beaten by 84 on the 567 flop. Just wanted to say. If you flop a flush with 67s then bet and make it UNPROFITABLE for someone to call with a single heart. Know that sometimes you will be betting into a bigger made flush, but thats the nature of the game there. just try and make it unprofitable for someone to draw. Keep in mind, that if you flop a flush or a straight, someone may have flopped trips, so make it unprofitable for him to draw to a boat.

For me , and if in position I will play a wider range. You will never know how valuable a small suited connector can be in position. When you hit, yum, yum!

I like 2 play small connectors 4-5 5-6 7-8. If i can see ther flop 4 cheap, if not i will fold.It sure feels great to flop a straight and have other trapped right now. Sticking around after the flop fishing is risky. I have lost lots thinking i am goiong with my gut and its wrong!!!