Suited Connectors?

I hear pros like Greg Raymar say that in the beginning of tourneys, when stacks are deep, he likes to play pairs and suited connectors. I understand pairs because of the potential to hit a set, and connectors because of the straight potential. However, I don't understand suited connectors as the chance of drawing a straight flush are practically nil and I gotta figure a lot of folks are limping with higher suited cards (A-x, K-x) when the stacks are deep. Am I missing something here?

Stacks are deep, it allows speculative hands to pay big when the flop hits hard. Basically it's implied odds. The more implied odds you have, the more you should play speculative hands like suited connectors and set-mine with small pp.

Oh, and suited connectors are great because they might flop a combo draw giving you 15 outs. I'd be happy raising with that and either make players with better hands fold, or outdraw them.

P.S. You don't need a straight flush to win. A small flush is often good enough against some opponents who can't lay down their big PP.

@edge
He knows that suited connectors have more outs because they give you a flush possiblity, but what he's saying is that even if you do hit your flush, your suited connectors are low enough that you're probably beat by a higher flush.

Playing suited connectors, as opposed to connectors, gives you that extra 3% (or whatever) chance of hitting the flush.

Raymer is not talking about playing with any suited connectors in any position, or calling anybody's open with them.

He's going to fold them when certain people are active in the pot, and he'll fold smaller suited connectors in early position and play some of those same cards in late position.

Early in a tournament not only are you deep, but there are a lot of weak players who are easy to read (I believe Raymer credits his WSoP win to watching people's necks) and these weak players overvalue their hands so they'll stack off with thing like two pair. People also tend to call down celebrities a bit more. So hitting a flush can be a jackpot for him, and if the villain has a bigger flush Raymer can get away from it without too much damage.

they're great hands to play later on too...if you have the stack to. especially with position. i'll go ahead and limp if there's limp action before me (unless i'm pretty sure what previous limpers will do...fold, if i raise), or raise from later mid-pos with them. there are times you can treat these hands like AK/Q/J depending on your opponents...though they can easily be crap in really loose freerolls. from 23 (if you have balls) to KQ, you'll often have a lot of outs post-flop, and have plenty of opportunities to scare ppl off the pot provided there's weak betting.

when you're looking to open your range in a tourney...they really are a good excuse to open up any hand...and, importantly, they're easy to fold if things just don't work out. they're killers against anyone's AA/KK/QQ/JJ who didn't raise enough preflop either (like a min-raise) and can provide a nasty uppercut to anyone not playing their hands correctly.

one thing i've been wanting to work on is to play more of them...especially as an excuse to just get into more hands because i all ready know i play too tight

personally, and it could very well be a leak in my game...I always play suited connectors when in position even with a raise in front of me...very rarely can I let them go I just see too much potential in them. Considering most raises I see in micro stakes are less than a tenth of a percent of my bankroll...I'll take my chances with them...see the flop.