Suited connectors

jasondavies

jasondavies

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Where do you draw the line on suited connectors?
I have a friend that argues black and blue that 24suited is teh same as 910suited or J10suited, i personally dont feel comfortable playing any suited connectors lower than 67

my question is where do you stop seeing flops (lets assume they are raised by a small amount) 65 for me is in teh muck but my friend will call with as low as 2 4 suited
 
Tammy

Tammy

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Mike Caro (the "Mad Genius") wrote an artilce on suited connectors for Poker Player Magazine. You can read it here.

I think the following quote answers your question pretty well:
Mike Caro; Poker Player Magazine; "Connect" said:
If everyone folds and I'm in late position, either the dealer position or the seat just before it, I'll usually raise with 10-9 suited, 9-8 suited, or even 8-7 suited. Suited connector hands lower than 8-7 suited, I'll usually fold with, because the ranks aren't high enough to win consistently, even if I'm lucky enough to pair. You see, the added advantage of raising in late position when everyone else has folded is that you might end up oneon- one and pair big enough to beat an unknown hand in the blinds. For instance, the big blind might call with queen-six and later pair sixes. If you're playing five-four suited and your opponent pairs sixes, you're going to need to make more than a pair to win. While this may seem obvious and insignificant, it turns out to be very significant when random trials are actually run on computer. The smaller suited connectors don't earn value raising the blinds from late position, simply because they don't often offer the additional opportunity of pairing and beating a smaller pair.

The article is a good read. I recommend reading the whole thing. :)
 
ChuckTs

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^^^Remember that Caro is talking strictly about LHE there, and so things change a little. NL is much different. I'm too drunk to elaborate. Maybe tomorrow morning when I'm half sober....
 
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Mad_Mike989

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Personally if I can limp in Ill go as low 4,5,suited. Other than that Ill stick higher than 6,7.
 
Dorkus Malorkus

Dorkus Malorkus

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Depends entirely on the table, the type of game, the situation and the action before you as to whether you play any suited connectors, but obviously 42s shouldn't be 'ranked' together with JTs, simply because they're less 'connected' and the cards are lower.

The only possible advantage I can think of with the very low connectors is you're obviously not going to get too deeply involved in a pot as you may with something like JTs when you flop something like TPWK - if you miss your hand it's trivially easy to get away from.
 
Jack Daniels

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..less 'connected'...
Less connected? Is that like being sort of pregnant? Or kind of dead?
Sorry, couldn't resist here...I seem to recall a thread a while back where hands like J8 suited were being called suited connectors (which they are not). But since I saw this come up in the thread, I felt it only appropriate to stir the pot a little. :p
 
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