Rule of thumb for suited connectors

[Jurrr]

I heard of the rule of thumb for small pocket pairs is that if the preflop raise is less than 5% of effective stacks then call; if more than 10% then fold; if between 5% and 10% then it's a judgement call. The odds of hitting a set are very simple to compute, and this rule makes a lot of sense.

What about medium suited connectors; if were to attempt to come up with a similar rule of thumb for, say, 98s, what would it be?

[cisco_kid]

Its not really a rule of thumb. You are going to flop a set (with a pocket pair) about 1 in 9 I believe. If your implied odds are > the amount you have in your stack divided by the amount bet then it's a call. This is more a mathematical problem.

I guess suited connectors are different as flopping 2 pair the straight or the flush are greater odds. I tend to raise as they can make a nice drawing and therefore semi bluffing hands. My advice would be.. be the aggressor with these hands, and win some bluffed hands what the flop is raggedy. Also trap when you hit the monster - as no one sees you coming if you raise with these hands (well not at tables I play at anyway!)

[Jurrr]

I do raise them in LP. I just wonder what pot odds I should be getting if I decide to call with them.

[cisco_kid]

what do you mean... pot odd preflop? that doesn't make sense to me. If you mean pot odds post flop when you have a straight(up and down), or a flush draw - you are looking at best case 1 in 3 of making it by the river. Therefore approximately 2 in 3 if you have both [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

If you mean 1 raiser, how much should you call.. don't know the answer. That would depend on the type of player you are up against.

1 raiser to say 3 or 4 x the BB, and say 3 callers, hell I would be calling as you wont_be_that_far_behind preflop.

All this would be dependent on how good you are at folding, reading players, bluffing etc...

[Acein8ter]

Play them in LP for cheap and hope to hit the nut str8 or better on the flop. (2 pair to FH) In a multiway pot, if you hit the flush, you will always be guessing if your high card is good, especially if your playing 87s, 98s, T9, JT...

[Jurrr]

Re: cisco_kid - I meant "implied odds and pot odds" not just pot odds.

Acein8ter - that's all true, but I was wondering what the "cheap" in "play them for cheap" means to most people.

[mvdgaag]

It's around one in five times that you get a big draw (8 outs or more) on the flop. You'll catch your cards between 32 and maybe 50% of the time. Let's say 40% on average. This means you'll get there around 25%*40% = 10% of the time, just like small pairs hitting a set.
The only problem is that you'll have to get to the river for these odds. Being agressive helps, because you might get a free card or pick up the pot on the flop. Just don't raise preflop when you are not stacked big enough, it will cost you about five times this raise (on avg.) before you even catch a descent draw. On the other hand when you don't raise preflop you loose a bit of deception.
In a cashgame I try not to use more than around 5% to 10% of my stack with either suited connectors or small pocket pairs preflop. They're really only great for deep stack strategy in my opinion.

GL