Suited connectors and gappers

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NateB

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What is a good strategy for playing suited connectors and gappers from early position? Limp and call small raise if it happens, raise from early position o just fold them and wait for a better spot. What's a good strat if you completely miss the flop?
 
xastaria

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In CASH GAMES never ,is the best strategy!!iIn a tournament play them if you have 20 or more big blinds do your game!If you don't have some many blinds just folt!Limp if you are playing with looser player, raise if are playing with tighter player! :top:
 
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It's possible in 6-max to make a standard open with some of them, depending on the table. I'd still fold hands like 64s or 75s. But hands like 98s have playability and chance to connect with flops, and should be raised some of the time. You want to start gradually including them into your range, not get out of line. If people are folding a lot, you can raise, and sometimes it'll even buy the button and now you've got a potential profitable spot against the blinds flatting.

When the table is very active and constantly reraising, you're better off folding.
 
LD1977

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Don't limp. You can raise SC from EP but folding is perfectly fine too.

Problem with gappers is that they flop less well, though implied odds are slightly better.
 
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Probably fold them from EP but depends on how many players and how table is playing. Also fine to raise and fold to big 3 bets.
 
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Understand that sc and sog are speculative hands and usually not going to be +value on their own.

I think limping ANYTHING from EP is a mistake in 95% of spots.

So IF you are playing, I would raise. And understand why you are raising.

1) Balance your range. If you are on very low stakes, quite frankly, this is overrated. No one is watching your range. No one knows what to do even if they are. If you are playing maybe .5/1 or better, then this is a consideration.

2) Have strategies in place. You need to know what to do if you flop a monster, if you flop a piece, or if you miss completely. And why. Again - does your table image matter? If so, you may want to play in a way that balances out your post flop play. Are people not watching your range and understanding bet sizing? Then just play accordingly.

#2 denotes that you have some idea of how your opponents play. I'd like to have at least some context for every player at the table before I'm raising 78s.

There are weird exceptions to this. Like on higher stakes it's somewhat customary to raise a new player's blind from UTG at a table with 6 or less players.
 
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hffjd2000

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Situation above, I would rather fold.

Entering would mean looking for trouble. Any good hand will call you up.
 
Thinker_145

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In my opinion gappers should never be opened in EP. I open SC most of the times however I will fold them in EP if there is too much 3 betting on the table.

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Dorugremon

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What is a good strategy for playing suited connectors and gappers from early position?

If you're discussing the middle SCs, fold them most of the time. If you limp from an early position, you're just guessing as to who's coming in, and whether or not you'll be in there with a deep enough stack to make it worth it. You're also taking a chance that someone behind will raise over your limp, and it'll cost even more to see a flop.

Since these hands miss much more often than they hit, you'll have a bad hand in bad position, and you never want that. You'll have to check/fold, and all that's doing is donating to someone else's pot. Bad idea.

If you're gonna play 'em from up-front, open raise. This is an "image" play and before you try it, you need to be reasonably certain your opponents will notice. It can help in future rounds when you open with an ( A, K ) and they can't be absolutely certain that you have such a hand. If your opponents aren't that observant, then it accomplishes nothing.

Mid level SCs are best played in position against deep stacks where you can make the most if you flop gin. They're also stealing hands from very late positions when you can attack the blinds, as they do give you something to fall back on if your steal raise gets called.

Unless you're going off very short-handed (steal raise, essentially) it's a bad policy to play these marginal hands from early positions unless you have a very specific reason to do so, and that doesn't come up very often in full ring or even six-max. You aren't giving up much by auto-mucking when out of position.
 
2Pacavelli

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if full table, fold prefer this type of hand , but if 6-max I 'd rather go to raise, and the flop does not help , I c -bet to represent a high card , because my initial raise can confuse the opponent
 
Aces2w1n

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If the tables too tight.. you can play atc and exploit your opponents because your cards are meaningless
 
Karozi615

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It really depends on how many players (6max vs FR), effective stack sizes, player profiles, your table image, etc. Generally you can comfortably fold hands like 7c9c or Ts8s from early position. Those hands just don't play well, and because your out of position you can't play them NEARLY as effectively.


Conversely. I would be drooling if I could get either of those holdings fairly deep against a fish with aces, but only in position. The reason why is because when we play connectors, we are peeling (floating) 100% of boards in position, because our hand is almost always connecting somehow.

we can make

1. flush draws, 3 flushes, 3 straights, straight draws, pairs, etc. And all of those hands can increase their equity on the turn.

Furthermore, if our opponent bets on the flop, and we just flat, that is actually interpreted as much stronger than a raise. Therefore, when the villain checks turn, we can bet and win a lot of the time.

If we get flatted on the turn, our hand probably has between 18-35% equity so we can value bet rivers against fish, or 2 barrel bluff if we see fit.


That's how to win with these types of cards in a nutshell.
 
Karozi615

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One last comment, why would you ever limp/call or limp/fold any hand? I wouldn't even do that with AA UTG in a FR game. Limping is bad. Bad players limp. If you limp your bad and you don't know how to play poker, period. When I see people limp/fold it actually upsets me and makes me want to give them lessons or something.


The only time you can EVERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR develop a limping strategy is in a heads up match under very very very specific conditions. It is almost always used as a crazy leveling adjustment by pros to either induce or play smallball, but no one on here is going to be able to adopt that strategy and its application is so limited you shouldn't even be thinking about it.


If your ever playing Tom Dwan on NBC's heads up poker championship that may be the only time to use a limited button limping strategy, and because he (or any pro for that matter) would quickly adjust and take control of hands you would probably still end up losing
 
Thinker_145

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Nah you are over reacting here. While I almost never open limp but I have seen some really good micro players do it from time to time. Why they do it I don't know but to say one doesnt know poker if they limp is just wrong.

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Never should you play these hands from early position and never should u limp. If ur too scared to raise because ur hand is too weak, u should fold it. If u really want to play suited connectors u should play then im late position. After the flop when everyone checks to you, you could try and make a stab at it. If you get any resistance after your bet, you should back down immediately.
 
starting_at_the_bottom

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What is a good strategy for playing suited connectors and gappers from early position?

Unless you are currently a long term winning player (ie decent at poker), the best strategy would be as follows:

Dont play suited connectors and gappers from ep.
 
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JVal

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fold

unless everyone else at the table is a much worse player than you

or if there is very little raising pre flop and lot of limpers but by definition those players are likely already pretty bad if they are doing that

position is extremely important in poker

if you're limping in early position you better have a damn good reason for doing it

good luck
 
alipalip

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Don`t play with suited connectors from early position! :D
Maybe if there are some fish at the table (min 2) who will call you so will give enough value if you make straight or flush. I think regurals at lower limits will fold for a bet from UTG or they will 3 bet with QQ+ AK+ .Maybe a call with AJs+ KQs but you will be still behind
 
Dorugremon

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Nah you are over reacting here. While I almost never open limp but I have seen some really good micro players do it from time to time. Why they do it I don't know but to say one doesnt know poker if they limp is just wrong.

I know why they open limp, and it's something I've done as well. It's a viable strategy at weak/passive tables. If you open limp, knowing there is little chance of a raise behind, and you set off a cascade of limps behind, you're getting good odds. Weak/passives will likely pay you when you hit.

If you limp behind, and the rest of the field limps OTF, you can likely steal with a bet. Picking up all that dead money makes the play a profitable one.
 
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