Suited Connectors

[afadeyi]

I was wondering if we could come up with a long list of games, situations, table positions, etc where playing suited connectors and/or drawing type hand is +ev.

ex-in positon as opposed to out of position.

[Mr_Donktastic]

Play them everytime no matter what, even all in preflop.

[Falc]

If you think someone got aces you can play suited connectors, they are the smallest dog to aces so just push them chips in.

[futuredoc85]

obv all my metagame nit-bashing is working perfectly

[KurtSF]

Against any decent opponent small and mid suited connectors will be an equity dog, as they won't play with anything other than big cards or pairs. In other words, you will (almost) always be behind.

So they are only +EV if you have IO.

Or if you have enough FE, but ATC can be +EV is you have enough FE.

[afadeyi]

I can see we have a bunch of know it alls in this forum. thanks anyway boys.

[raistlinx]

The +/- EV of suited connectors mostly depends on how well you play them after the flop but there are some guidelines to playing them pre-flop.

Suited connectors rely even more on implied odds than do small PP. This is why playing them OOP is bad. If you limp from ep and have to call a raise you are likely not going to make up enough EV when yo do hit for the times you don't. Even if you do get to see a cheap flop and hit if you are only up against one other opponent you probably won't get paid much. However, if you are occasionally mixing up your play these are good hands to raise with up front as they still have some value.

In late position you would also like to limp with them as raising will again cut down your implied odds. Most people will support raising with them in late position. This isn't wrong but it is not the most +EV play but it is good to mix up your game as well. This gives you more action when you do have a premium hand. To understand why limping even on the button is more +EV than raising consider the following cases:

1) No one has a hand, or 1 person has a hand to call the raise. most likely you pick up the blinds and maybe one person who limped. This would be 2.5bb.

2) Someone has a premium hand. Now you have put in 3-4bb and have to fold to a reraise as you will not have enough implied odds to call.

However, suppose you limp on the button and someone in the blinds raise and you feel he has a big hand. Now you can call his raise (assuming the stacks are big enough) and try to stack him when you hit.

This is the reason limping is more +EV with SC than raising. You give yourself the chance to win his whole stack. If you raise and get a caller, he will likely be putting you on a big hand, maybe even AA, and you will often find he won't play back at you unless he has two pair or better to "crack your big PP". This will kill you when the flop comes J77 and he has JJ to your 76. Obviously these are just examples but you see the ideas behind the two different plays.

You will win many more pots of you raise, but remember poker is not a game of winning the most pots, it's about winning the most money. But raising with them occasionally especially when the table is tight is great to mix up your game. You just have to understand you are sacrificing some EV on the hand for your image.

In MP it is very table dependant. If you are sure there won't be a raise behind you it is OK to limp, but if you think there will be you have to fold.

In the blinds I like raising the limpers with SC. You are OOP for the hand so you would be happy taking the pot down there, but if you don't you have some value to fall back on.

Just remember, to play SC for the most EV the table has to be passive and you want many people in the pot with you. At the micros however, always remember how people love to play suited cards, just because you hit your flush with 65s, if you are getting action someone very likely has a larger flush.

So, limping = +EV/-metagame, raising = -EV/+metagame

Personally I think a 80/20 strategy between limping and raising is great at a typical table which leads to my last point. If you are playing with a bunch of fish who aren't paying any attention to what you are doing there is no need to deviate from the most +EV play. Just keep limping and calling with position and watch them start to spew when they can't lay down AA and you take their stack.

[Jurrr]

I really love SCs in limped pots.

I will sometimes play them against a 4BB raise in position if I hope other limpers will come along, but I'm not sure it is really EV+ (as opposed to PPs which clearly are).

When PPs make sets it's really disguised; when SCs connect it's fairly evident, especially in the case of flushes.

And of course I will raise them against weak blinds or weak limpers in LP. I could with ATC, but then I'd get played back at. So I do with SCs and decent hands, and sometimes my puny SC grows into a monster.