NL2 zoom 6 players, suited connectors and premium hands.

jadaminato

jadaminato

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I wanted to talk about these two types of hands and how to play them in NL2, max 6, zoom tables. With regard to the suited connectors, I must say that before the button I almost never play them, unless they are J10s or higher without raises before.
As for premium hands, I almost always do 3bet. Microlimit players often pursue many projects regardless of odds, so I make them pay dearly. I can hardly find a spot to slow-play.

So, any advice to improve my game? Do you play it differently?
 
Aballinamion

Aballinamion

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I wanted to talk about these two types of hands and how to play them in NL2, max 6, zoom tables. With regard to the suited connectors, I must say that before the button I almost never play them, unless they are J10s or higher without raises before.
As for premium hands, I almost always do 3bet. Microlimit players often pursue many projects regardless of odds, so I make them pay dearly. I can hardly find a spot to slow-play.

So, any advice to improve my game? Do you play it differently?

Hello there jadaminato, good evening, how do you do? Very good topic you created, thanks for doing so.
Well, this is very generic topic and complicated to the bones to explain.
I like to play these suited connectors at the micros:

AKs, KQs, QJs, JTs, T9s, 98s, 87s, 76s, 65s, 54s, 43s, 32s (3.62%)

However, there are millions of ways of playing these suited connectors. For example, we don't play 54s, 65s from Early Position. When we are in the Button, we also cannot simply open a 54s without knowing who are the players in the blinds.
I let the small suited connectors such as 32s, 43s, 54s, to play in the SB's Steal range versus BB. These connectors are very weak and dominated but still have a gigantic implied odds, when we are facing recreational players. 32s can make two pair, trips, straight, flush, full-house, quads, straight-flush etc, so the playability is awesome, having information that the player in the BB is 'sticky" and will almost always stack with top pair or two pair.
When I am defending the blinds at the micros it is very hard to call a preflop raise holding small suited connectors. From the Button I see no reason for so doing (at the micros) because we will be mostly dominated by anything the SB or BB decide to call or 3-bet (we open 54s from the BTN and get called by 65s, so we are already dominated).
Suited connectors have a good flobability, but it we overplay them we are going to be burning money.

Also I avoid these one gappers connectors:

AQs, KJs, QTs, J9s, T8s, 97s, 86s, 75s, 64s, 53s, 42s (3.32%)

As I said, I avoid, it doesn't mean that I don't play them. I guess, depending on the table dynamics, that 86s it is good enough to be opening from the BTN for steal.
Under 86s are good to play as well, but we must seek for the most profitable spots to play it.

Premium Connectors and Broadways:

ATs+, K9s+, Q8s+, J7s+, T8s+, 98s, ATo+, KTo+, QTo+, JTo (14.78%)

With the strongest broadways and suited connectors I like to mix up my game a fair chunk of times at the micros. We don't want to 3-bet AK, AQ, KQ and get folds. So when I see a player that is opening too wide, but folds a lot to 3-bet, I simply call (depending on position) with these strong broadways and let the opponent do what it wants postflop.
The opposite is the same, when I see a player who loves to call 3-bets, specially out of position, I see no problem and making a 3-bet for VALUE with AK, AQ, AJ, and sometimes even AT is 3-bet for value.
When I see that I player folds too much to 3-bet, I am more inclined to make a 3-bet light, but even so with hands that have a decent flobability such as 76s, 87s, 98s, 9Ts, etc.
I know the opponent is going to fold too much versus my 3-bet and when it calls or 4-bets, depending now on stack sizes, I can be either fold or cold call 4-bet with these suited connectors, to trap my opponent, who would never expect a player cold calling 4-bet with 98s for example. However, we won't be doint this a lot at the micros! Be aware and try to play a solid game, which means, plays more values than bluffs at the micros.
I hope it helps you.

Regards;

Carlos 'Aballinamion' Barbosa
 
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c0rnBr34d

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I think you have a good baseline, especially for zoom where it's probably correct to be a little tighter. I would probably add a few suited connectors to my RFI in late position including T9s and 98s. I'm not a fan of calling or three betting them though unless it's KQs+.

I also agree that there's little need for slow play. Get the value, take the small pot, charge the draws, get to the next hand and do it again. Maybe if you have 1k hands of history with an opponent and want to exploit a known tendency I could get behind a slow play. But in general just get the value now.
 
Aballinamion

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I think you have a good baseline, especially for zoom where it's probably correct to be a little tighter. I would probably add a few suited connectors to my RFI in late position including T9s and 98s. I'm not a fan of calling or three betting them though unless it's KQs+.

I also agree that there's little need for slow play. Get the value, take the small pot, charge the draws, get to the next hand and do it again. Maybe if you have 1k hands of history with an opponent and want to exploit a known tendency I could get behind a slow play. But in general just get the value now.

Hi there c0rnBr34d, how you doing buddy? Good to see your posts!
I got curious why don't you like 3-betting T9s and 98s for example, at the micros? I am asking this because I would like to know if you don't have a 3-betting range for bluff or if you don't have a 3-bet calling range as well.

I also agree that we are almost never slow playing, unless, of course if we hit a very strong hand versus a very aggressive players postflop. OR when we flop a quads, a straight-flush but this is so rare that it is better to forget it.

Regards;

Carlos 'Aballinamion' Barbosa
 
jadaminato

jadaminato

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Hello there jadaminato, good evening, how do you do? Very good topic you created, thanks for doing so.
Well, this is very generic topic and complicated to the bones to explain.
I like to play these suited connectors at the micros:

AKs, KQs, QJs, JTs, T9s, 98s, 87s, 76s, 65s, 54s, 43s, 32s (3.62%)

However, there are millions of ways of playing these suited connectors. For example, we don't play 54s, 65s from Early Position. When we are in the Button, we also cannot simply open a 54s without knowing who are the players in the blinds.
I let the small suited connectors such as 32s, 43s, 54s, to play in the SB's Steal range versus BB. These connectors are very weak and dominated but still have a gigantic implied odds, when we are facing recreational players. 32s can make two pair, trips, straight, flush, full-house, quads, straight-flush etc, so the playability is awesome, having information that the player in the BB is 'sticky" and will almost always stack with top pair or two pair.
When I am defending the blinds at the micros it is very hard to call a preflop raise holding small suited connectors. From the Button I see no reason for so doing (at the micros) because we will be mostly dominated by anything the SB or BB decide to call or 3-bet (we open 54s from the BTN and get called by 65s, so we are already dominated).
Suited connectors have a good flobability, but it we overplay them we are going to be burning money.

Also I avoid these one gappers connectors:

AQs, KJs, QTs, J9s, T8s, 97s, 86s, 75s, 64s, 53s, 42s (3.32%)

As I said, I avoid, it doesn't mean that I don't play them. I guess, depending on the table dynamics, that 86s it is good enough to be opening from the BTN for steal.
Under 86s are good to play as well, but we must seek for the most profitable spots to play it.

Premium Connectors and Broadways:

ATs+, K9s+, Q8s+, J7s+, T8s+, 98s, ATo+, KTo+, QTo+, JTo (14.78%)

With the strongest broadways and suited connectors I like to mix up my game a fair chunk of times at the micros. We don't want to 3-bet AK, AQ, KQ and get folds. So when I see a player that is opening too wide, but folds a lot to 3-bet, I simply call (depending on position) with these strong broadways and let the opponent do what it wants postflop.
The opposite is the same, when I see a player who loves to call 3-bets, specially out of position, I see no problem and making a 3-bet for VALUE with AK, AQ, AJ, and sometimes even AT is 3-bet for value.
When I see that I player folds too much to 3-bet, I am more inclined to make a 3-bet light, but even so with hands that have a decent flobability such as 76s, 87s, 98s, 9Ts, etc.
I know the opponent is going to fold too much versus my 3-bet and when it calls or 4-bets, depending now on stack sizes, I can be either fold or cold call 4-bet with these suited connectors, to trap my opponent, who would never expect a player cold calling 4-bet with 98s for example. However, we won't be doint this a lot at the micros! Be aware and try to play a solid game, which means, plays more values than bluffs at the micros.
I hope it helps you.

Regards;

Carlos 'Aballinamion' Barbosa


Thanks Carlos, you gave me a lot of play to analyze. I will think about it.

I think you have a good baseline, especially for zoom where it's probably correct to be a little tighter. I would probably add a few suited connectors to my RFI in late position including T9s and 98s. I'm not a fan of calling or three betting them though unless it's KQs+.

I also agree that there's little need for slow play. Get the value, take the small pot, charge the draws, get to the next hand and do it again. Maybe if you have 1k hands of history with an opponent and want to exploit a known tendency I could get behind a slow play. But in general just get the value now.

I will experiment with some more connectors to see how it goes. Thanks for your answer.
 
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c0rnBr34d

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Hi there c0rnBr34d, how you doing buddy? Good to see your posts!
I got curious why don't you like 3-betting T9s and 98s for example, at the micros? I am asking this because I would like to know if you don't have a 3-betting range for bluff or if you don't have a 3-bet calling range as well.

I also agree that we are almost never slow playing, unless, of course if we hit a very strong hand versus a very aggressive players postflop. OR when we flop a quads, a straight-flush but this is so rare that it is better to forget it.

Regards;

Carlos 'Aballinamion' Barbosa
I prefer to be more value heavy in the micros. I like to have blockers when 3 bet bluffing. Suited wheel aces, and ATs and AJs along with KQs is usually enough. That’s almost 50 combos if we use them all. I don’t think it’s necessary in the micros to have that many 3 bet bluffs. If someone is opening super wide then we can adjust by 3 betting wider. As in the other thread, I think hands like AQs are strong enough to flat most 3 bets along with TT, JJ, some QQ that doesn’t 4 bet. There are tons of factors that can adjust ranges such as sizing, frequencies, position, etc. so I don’t mean to be exhaustive here just kind of giving a rough idea.
 
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