When should I play suited connectors in ring games

Guys, When should I play this? Should I open it with raise? how many limpers before I limp in? In position should I play these type of hand?


I havent playing these hand. But I want to try it now. Any advice would be helpful. TIA

I only play suited connectors if the table and position are right (and depending on how high of suited connectors they are of course).

I would only play them from late position, and only if there is no serious action before me (limpers make it worth while to play, but no raises). I would also never limp in with them, only open with a raise.

IF they are not high suited connectors, then you will find they get cracked a lot by a higher flush, or a higher straight even when they do hit, so don't get too committed to them.

For example there are two limpers before you. What would you do? Would it raise it? 3xbb + 2 bet from limpers?

I only play suited connector's if i'm in position and nobody has bet before me!!

But as somebody has said be very careful with flush's.

alvinpe said:

For example there are two limpers before you. What would you do? Would it raise it? 3xbb + 2 bet from limpers?

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Depends on how I see those limpers. I am still a newbie myself, and I find that in the lowerlimits (which is all I have played 2NL, 5NL, 10NL), that the majority of the people at the table limp into every hand if there is yet to be a raise. For this reason, I tend to ignore limps and treat them the same as a fold. If the whole table has limped in, then it is more compelling for me to get in the pot as I am now getting very good odds.

If you have noticed one of the players does not limp into every hand and only limps in when they have something good, I would respect it a little more, but in the low limits I am familar with, this type of player is very rare.

As for the size of my raise, I tend to do a standard 3 - 5 x bb. I don't want to go too high, because someone after me could easily have a good hand and I want to be able to get out if a re-raise from a good player comes.

I only play them from late position and only if there are no serious bets before me. If I play I would raise rather than just call. However you have to be aware of the other players and how they have been playing. Every game is different.

These are hands that need to get a flop. So, I don't want to play them in a raised pot, or in early position when it could get raised. I certainly am not going to raise with them preflop. If I'm in already, and get raised later, I might call up a three-bet, if I am in late position.

So whenever you raised PF do you guy also fire a C bet after that? Or only Cbet if there's a chance in winning? I mean if the flop have 2 same suited? or?

limp and up to 3 times the big blind, same goes for low pocket pairs. If there is a chance someone will raise more than 3 bb dont call the 3bb raise though. Same goes for pocket pair. Your just hope they hit your ace and pay off your monster. Unless you got a super unbeatable hand I like to bet out very small when a hand is made. Then hit them big on river.

As a general rule, I always play them in position and play them aggressively. Reason is you will have a lot of semi bluff opportunities with all the possible draws on flop. Even a gutshot with a backdoor flush can be enough to have good fold equity + implied odds, depending on the flop and the player you're up against.

It also helps you to balance your range, so when you cbet a K85 flop it can be with KQ, 99 or 74. Keep them guessing.

Edit: As other people said in this thread, don't overvalue a low flush in a multiway limped pot, as you will more often than not get called by a higher flush. Another good reason to RAISE with them and keep initiative.

You want to play suited connector when you have good implied odds. They make straights and flushes, which generally need time to develop. Therefore the deeper the stacks get the more these hands are worth. Once you're up around 200bb effective stacks, SC's definitely have value. IMO 100bb stacks you really need to have lots of fold equity to make them worth anything.

it was sooted

suited connectors should only be played when you are involved in a multiway pot in late position, as the hand most likely isn't going to complete on the flop you are going to need to call bets to the turn and river to play these hands profitably

When you feel comfortable doing so - that's when. There is no ALWAYS or ONLY when playing suited connectors - imo. I believe it is more situational dependant than anything else. If you are viewed by others at the table as a tight player, then take your 89h and do a small raise of say 2.5x bb from utg or as an opener. Play them from the late positions in a limped pot or even when there has been a small raise in front of you. But of course you really need to know how the others are playing at your talbe, how the blinds play and what style you are viewed as by your opponents.

If a tight passive player opens the pot in ep with a small raise I will call with medium to high suited connectors in late position most of the time. Because the player is tight I can assume they have a premium starting hand, because the player is passive I can also assume that if the flop is low then I can steal the pot when they check the flop.

If a fairly aggressive player is in late position or in the bb I might just toss them away. But under this situation if I'm in mp and there have been a few limpers then I will see a cheap flop and hope to get lucky and hope I will have a situation to trap the aggressive player in late position.

If the pot is opened by a tight aggressive player for any raise I will muck them.

If I'm in the bb and there is a small raise and a couple callers I will call and see a flop.

In ep and mp I prefer 89 suited or higher to play them but that's just me.
In lp I might raise with them if the pot hasn't been raised, I have a high enough chip stack and my raises have been respected at that table or I think I have the opportunity to steal the pot after the flop.

I also will limp in with low suited connectors into a limped pot from lp. In ep I prefer to laydown low suited connectors most of the time.

Most importantly I think playing suited connectors is situational and you should have a good read on your opponents and know how they view you. If you have a loose image, that changes the whole game, it sounds like you have a tight image so that's what I am basing my opinions on.

Good luck and keep us updated on how it is working for you. Post some hands in the HH if you haven't already about any questions you have on some suited connector hands you've gotten and played. Also know there is a difference between playing 89su vs 79su. 89 su is considered a suited connector, 79su is considered a suited gap connector.

i mostly fold SCs if no ones in the pot. in LP i will try to steal the blinds with them if the blinds are weak. if theres 2 limpers ill limp behind in LP(not MP) and only if i dont expect a raise. if someones opens 3xBB i will 3bet sometimes and try to steal the pot right there. i try to pick random hands to play aggressive with. i might say red 67s(and not 76s) ill play like aces. meaning ill open raise 3xBB from EP with them. and 3bet them from late and from blinds. also ill try stealing the pot if i miss with them too. say i open 3xBB w/67s and an A flops you know im reping it w/ a cbet 99.9% of the time. add them in slowly and look for odds. if you cant get them look for spots to steal.

cardplayer52 said:

i try to pick random hands to play aggressive with. i might say red 67s(and not 76s) ill play like aces. meaning ill open raise 3xBB from EP with them. and 3bet them from late and from blinds. also ill try stealing the pot if i miss with them too. say i open 3xBB w/67s and an A flops you know im reping it w/ a cbet 99.9% of the time. add them in slowly and look for odds. if you cant get them look for spots to steal.

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That is an excellent point I forgot to bring up - sound advice!

Suited connectors are good to limp in with. No need to raise as you don't really want to chase anyone out. If you hit, I have found that the majority of players do not see the potential straight (or don't want to let go of their pair). The limp lets you get out cheap if you don't improve your position after the flop.

Overlimping....yes

Open limping....please don't

i will occasionally play sc,s at later position but only if there are 2-3 callers in the pot ,i wanna make sure that if they hit hard i can earn,theres no point going into a 2 handed pot with 9,10 suited if its just you and a raiser ,even if you do hit ,you wont get much mostly .

jumping jack flash said:

i will occasionally play sc,s at later position but only if there are 2-3 callers in the pot ,i wanna make sure that if they hit hard i can earn,theres no point going into a 2 handed pot with 9,10 suited if its just you and a raiser ,even if you do hit ,you wont get much mostly .

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Spot on.

The only exception is if you feel you can steal the pot HU against the raiser (low c-bet, high fold to flop bet or high c-bet + high fold to flop reraise)

Then again if those conditions are true, it dosnt matter if you play SC or ATC

when i feel the suited connectors and i have chips i always call or raise

When playing a full ring game, sometimes it is best just to call in early positions, but when first in from mid-to-late position, it is a raising hand. When playing shorthanded, we should always raise suited connectors first in. This is to balance our raising hand distribution; it gives good deception value and allows us to steal the pot on the flop, even if we miss it completely.
If someone has raised before us, in most cases it is correct to call the raise, especially if we have position on the raiser. A good rule of thumb is that it is correct to call up to 10% of our stack preflop, since it is about that often we will hit two pair or better. Preflop, our cards are not worth much. It is after the flop that things can become interesting.
Our goal is to flop two pair, three of a kind or a strong draw. Suited connectors are especially good for stacking over pairs, but they are playable in most situations. If we miss the flop, we simply fold, unless we have raised preflop. If we are the preflop aggressor and the pot is heads-up to the flop, we should continuation bet even if we miss in order to give us a chance to pick up the pot. If we have called preflop, we only continue playing if we flop at least a good draw.The times we hit the flop hard our play depends entirely on the opponent, table image, table game play, stack size and position. To give a general advice for each situation that could arise would require an essay worthy of a Master's degree, so the only recommendation I really can give is to play the same way you usually play your good hands. The standard play, therefore, should be to play aggressive when hitting the flop hard