Playing Suited Connectors EP

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JordanPoker3

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Any tips on how the should be played.
 
EvertonGirl

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If they're big SC like AK QK sort of hands I don't mind opening up in EP.

If they are 98s I am more inclined to fold these sort of hands unless I am very deep stacked.

To play lower SC you need to be a great at post flop play and know when to just give them up. Imagine you x/c on the flop and get the flush on the turn and now you x/r and villain shoves you all in. You are now in a tricky situation, are you willing to gii with just 9 high?? I mean it will all depend on your opponent. I would open in EP with caution and like I said know when to let it go.
 
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lilcharlierich

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SC can get in in trouble but when it pays off it pays off big
 
cheapseats76

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Suited connectors are the most common starting hand in poker which is why selectivity is important. You want to play these hands maybe 40% of the time because of how often you will get them, any more and you may become readable. They are also hands like small pockets that you want to see cheap flops with and the more the better. The more players involved the higher your percent goes up to win the hand. They can be very disguisable when they hit but like evertongirl mentions when you do hit the flush you need to proceed with caution as a higher flush may be out there which is why you are looking for made str8's instead of made flushes. In EP you can open up with lower suited connectors down to 67 but very rarely. Good luck on the felts!
 
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TheLegend27

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I love to play suited connectors in position. Depending on what the action is at the game, I might flat out of position if I know I can get paid off big if it hits (if people allow limped pots).

If I'm the cutoff/button, I like a raise with suited connectors in limped pots.
 
Antulio francis

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Usually playing mao who are brother at the beginning of a tournament is reliably good because it is a card that flops well more that does not mean that you must play all in position or out of position I find it very interesting to open hands type pairs low utg and give more call mp Hj bt in position with good hands and weighting weak hands in position with logical security if you find a fold fold is always good to think outside the box
 
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sarniack

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If they're big SC like AK QK sort of hands I don't mind opening up in EP.

If they are 98s I am more inclined to fold these sort of hands unless I am very deep stacked.

The question is: what is your bluff range on EP? By default use all of the suited connectors (starting from 67s or 78s) as balance for my value range.

To play lower SC you need to be a great at post flop play and know when to just give them up.

At least it is not that hard to give up on such hands when facing aggression and there is no flush draw ;)
 
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Suited connectors, my weakness. Very often I can not stop in time. But I like that it turns out that the lower the denomination of cards - the better is the distribution.
 
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i like suited cards even is a bigger raise sometimes I Will call and wait a good flop.....
 
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my action really depends on position and my stack size.
 
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TCashMoney19

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It depends on if you're heads up, against multiple opponents, if you flop any equity etc. In a heads up pot, I would say play your range and not necessarily just your hand. Meaning, if you open 89s and the flop comes AQ2 rainbow, this should be a standard cbet in a heads up pot. Even in 3-way pots, on ace or king high boards that are super dry, and maybe if you have a backdoor flush/straight draw or something of that nature, I would fire a cbet and double barrel on turns where we pick up equity (flush draws, open ended straight draws, etc).

When we go super multi-way though, like 4 or more players, you just kind of have to play your hand and bet when you flop a strong hand or strong equity. bluffing 4 ways without a lot of equity isn't going to be a winning play in the long run, especially at lower stakes. Stick to these types of thought processes and you should do fine with suited connectors in EP!
 
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Tricky123bet

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It depends on if you're heads up, against multiple opponents, if you flop any equity etc. In a heads up pot, I would say play your range and not necessarily just your hand. Meaning, if you open 89s and the flop comes AQ2 rainbow, this should be a standard cbet in a heads up pot. Even in 3-way pots, on ace or king high boards that are super dry, and maybe if you have a backdoor flush/straight draw or something of that nature, I would fire a cbet and double barrel on turns where we pick up equity (flush draws, open ended straight draws, etc).

When we go super multi-way though, like 4 or more players, you just kind of have to play your hand and bet when you flop a strong hand or strong equity. Bluffing 4 ways without a lot of equity isn't going to be a winning play in the long run, especially at lower stakes. Stick to these types of thought processes and you should do fine with suited connectors in EP!

Very good and solid post. Informative and easy to understand, something that seems quite rare on Cardschat. But there is one thing I want to mention though...

For a little more experienced players and at higher stakes (25nl+) you would want to mix in some SCs from EP.
But at the microstakes and as a beginner, you shouldn't ever open suited connectors from EP, unless you have a strong read on the table and know you can turn profit by doing it. We don't really need to think about balancing our EP opening range at the microstakes.
In EP you are already in a bad position. At microstakes you will likely get called by multiple people more often, and thus go multiway a fair chunk of the time. As a beginner playing suited connectors in a bad position (often OOP), will just provide a lot of unnecessary tough postflop spots to deal with. Yes, suited connectors are fairly easy to play if you plan to fold every time you whiff the flop. But that will happen too often for a fit or fold strategy to be profitable with SCs.
Most of our money isn't coming from EP anyway, so trying to get creative from that position won't earn you that many dollars. Suited connectors would be way more profitable to expand into your Button and Cutoff stealing range, or even restealing with some suited connectors.

My advice is to play only AKs and KQs from EP. You should even be fairly selective about playing KQs in the micros. Then gradually you can start experimenting with SCs from EP when moving up in stakes. So just fold QJs and lower in EP, and keep it simple.
 
Nicholas Benedettini

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I LOVE suited connectors when there is a raise if you have the money to call and fold because alot of the times it does not land well for you but they are great because if they do you will never be expected. I would play and only bet if i get two pairs more preferably a straight or flush .. straight flush would be amazing and if the raiser catches their thought to be best hand you may just take their whole stack !
 
John Turnner

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I have problems with SC. KQ almost always loses, but J8, J9, JT often win, it's very nice. I open them, but on OR I throw in the pass.
 
Dorugremon

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Any tips on how the should be played.

For the most part, you fold unless they're big Broadways.

That's the nature of the game: out of the #1 hole, you have 6 or 9 players yet to act, the rotation is fixed for four rounds, and you can't play very many hands up front. When you do, your opponents know what you have. If you have astute, observant opponents behind you, you have to fire the occasional shot across the bow with less than Premium hands. Get a (7,6-s), fire that barrel: you have to keep 'em guessing in case you pick up aces or kings. Let them know there's always a slim possibility you might be in there with a nothing hand. Don't over do it since an observant opponent needs to see something once to remember it for a long time.

If your opponents are typical rec-fish who aren't paying attention, then don't bother. Ditch small -- medium suited connectors up front. You have no reason to play these there unless the table is unusually foldy, in which case, it's a steal. Let them play that fish bait OOP.
 
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pietpikel

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Any tips on how the should be played.
I think you need to give them more context.

Two important factors are how big your stack size is and are the other stack sizes big ?

If you are playing short stack, then you can't really afford to speculate with such marginal hands. With your short stack you need to get it in , heads up or against 2 callers where it can hold up and win.

However if the stacks are very deep, the game changes. It becomes an implied odds game. It is worth speculating some, because if you flop a monster you get handsomely paid off. It also helps if you have a wild player who will pay you off :)

In a wild game they won't help you so much because there will be no time to speculate. Someone will be raising and prob reraising, and speculative hands will be squeezed and cost you too much money.

I think the best situation to play speculative hands is when you have a passive game, and perhaps 2 or 3 passive/tight players to your left. It opens the door wider to speculate and you can probably see more flops from late position.

If you are playing a 'regular' game, or against the same opposition, you need to figure out where you would like to sit and who you would prefer to have where, depending on your strategy and stack size.
 
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Suited connected must be 67+

56 and below causes a dilemma because hands like 910 and 69 aren't going to often raise or give ANY CLUE preflop so that even if you flop your monster straight being outdrawn is just far too viable a blindside. As for hitting the flush... Well, it is possible to know you're outdrawing the opponent based on how they raise and when but if you are out-flushed don't come crying to me.

67+ i viable because while 7J doesn't tend to raise preflop, YOU can do so and 7 J usually doesn't call there (and neither does 610) hitting 6 or 7 preflop you ahve a nice mid kicker so a truly loose fish can be profited from here, 8 9 10 without a Q or J showing up you can be aggro with at 7J tends to fold to your preflop action and JQ will make it blatant what they have (unless very loose player raises you here, take into account the amount at stake and analyze if you'd take the loss even for a three-kidn turning into a fullhouse etc).

NOTE: flush means very little until 10J suited. with Q-A high flushes it becomes blatant when the enemies have coolered you (in my opinion).

DO NOT PLAY FOR THE FLUSH with below at least 9 high, you will find it so hard to read into what level of flush the opponent has unless not slowplaying is their meta.
 
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