when and when no to play suited connectors

i love them abd i know there is many thoughts and i would like to just pick your guys brains on when and when not to play suited connectors pre-flop of course, if you raise or slow play or whatever

Cash or Tourney?

I usually play them when I can see a cheap flop with a few players already having limped and I am in a later position or in the blinds.

Can pay off if you have very aggressive players at your table that will give you good implied odds if you connect.

tourney

I prefer to play them from LP or the blinds when there are limpers, or raise when I think I may be able to pick up the blinds(late in tourney)

Preferred to play them early on in the tourneys, and in deep stack tourneys and in tourneys that have a bounty. As tourney progresses and aggression factor increases and all in shoves become common (loss of pot control) I don't play low ranked suited connectors. Near the bubble I'll laydown J10 suited. In HU play, if I have a huge chip lead, I'll play them again looking for the flush or straight knockout. In live play, a couple of us took out quads with straight flush, with pkt 54 suited; started calling that hand quad killers, trouble is started to over play that hand in questionable circumstances. Odds of flopping a straight with "open ended" suited connectors is about 80 to 1, and a flush is slightly better. Decent odds for an instant made hand. Drops to 120 to 1 if one card between them.

I'm fairly new to calculating my own odds, so please correct me if I'm wrong -- I need to know if I've had the wrong idea all this time.

I'm assuming you mean about 80% against, not 80:1 against? Wouldn't 80:1 against (much less 120:1 against) be impossible with only 50 cards left in the deck? By my calcs the odds of hitting an 8-out OE straight preflop is 42:8 = 5.25:1 = 16% (or 84% against).

Am I totally misunderstanding how to calc odds, or do poker players use some sort of funny math here that I haven't learned yet?

I play suited connectors early in a tourney and in late pos. but be very care to not get sucked in bye catching mid pair and calling all the way to the river trying to improve ur hand. if you can see a cheap flop with good pot odds then thats good but be sure to dump them quick unless you have a very good read on ur opponent. hope this helps

80% against means 4 to 1 .. (for example if you have a flush draw which gives you a roughly 20% chance of hitting)

Right, the thing is he said 80:1 -- I assume he meant 80%, which I knew was 4:1, and that sounded about right for the OE straight draw. But then he went on to say 120:1 which really threw me for a loop, because even if he meant 120%, that's not possible in terms of single-deck poker odds either. At least as I understand the math involved, which is why I sought verification.

ditto, plus first couple levels, I'll play alot of cheap hands that can make the nuts.

He said, "Odds of flopping a straight with "open ended" suited connectors is about 80 to 1 , and a flush is slightly better." That would mean flopping three of your suit - which is actually less likey (118 to 1) than flopping three to a straight.

Leaving aside the maths discussion and returning to the original question -

As most have agreed, it is standard to limp in with suited connectors hoping to see a cheap flop. Also, one can raise with them if first into the pot, hoping to steal the blinds, but with outs if you are called.

There is a third way of playing them, I suggest. In a deepstack ring game, or in the early levels of a tourney when the blinds are still low in relation to the stacks, it is worthwhile to call a standard raise with them from late position. You are looking to set up a situation where your preflop raiser hits the flop or has an overpair and will pay your straight or flush in a very large pot.

Note carefully that this play is only sound if both you and the opponent have deep stacks. It will not succeed often and must pay something on the order of 40-50 BBs to compensate for the more common result, which is that you will lose 3-4 BBs.

Gotcha. I misread it then. Thanks for the clarification.

A lot depends on position, which connectors I'm holding and how much it costs to see a flop. Generally 9-10 or higher in early or middle position and 3-4 and higher in late position. Again this all changes depending on the action and my opponet's style of play

I try playing them in late position...sometimes i'll even raise from late position. helps to disguise your hand. That way even if you miss the flop you can raise or reraise if you think your opponent is weak. dont forget to put them on a hand before you make a move though.

I think people play these too often and causes leak in ones game. The trouble is we see it on TV all the time. But we cant forget on TV it is usually at a 6 seated table. And they are all in the money and most of the pros are just going for 1st. Or as in PAD they are paying only 1st. So with all this in mind they are looking to hit a monster. As others have said late position can be a place or if you are changing gears and want to give the image of being loose. But I wouldnt advise this for regular play.

1) Do you have position?
2) Do your opponents have relatively deep stacks?

If you've answered yes to both questions, then play on.