Playing suited connectors.

[pokerloser10056]

I am posting this in the beginner’s area opposed to poker theory because I am a beginner; if it should be moved please do so.
My question is what are the general rules of thumb for playing suited connectors? I understand the rules for pocket pairs but suited connectors are still a mystery to me. Let’s say you hold 8s and 9s. What do you do pre-flop? After the flop you get one more card to put you on a flush draw or straight draw, what do you do? What if you get two cards on the flop? Thanks for any advice! P.S. This site rocks.

[jiacstrap]

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I am posting this in the beginner’s area opposed to poker theory because I am a beginner; if it should be moved please do so.
My question is what are the general rules of thumb for playing suited connectors? I understand the rules for pocket pairs but suited connectors are still a mystery to me. Let’s say you hold 8s and 9s. What do you do pre-flop? After the flop you get one more card to put you on a flush draw or straight draw, what do you do? What if you get two cards on the flop? Thanks for any advice! P.S. This site rocks.

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There is no rules. There is not one way to play them. Position and player actions before you are the biggest factors to determine what you should do with a hand like 89s pre-flop.

[Gigglegirl]

It is all situational dependent but if you are inexperienced and not confident playing them, try just playing them in multiway pots for as cheap as possible. If you miss (which is most of the time), dump em. If you hit draws, know your odds of hitting flush and/or combined straight draws and that should get you started.

[ottsville]

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There is no rules. There is not one way to play them. Position, stack sizes, and player actions before you are the biggest factors to determine what you should do with a hand like 89s pre-flop.




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fyp

[Perk76]

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There is no rules. There is not one way to play them. Position, stack sizes, and player actions before and players/stack sizes behind you are the biggest factors to determine what you should do with a hand like 89s pre-flop.




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fyp

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Added to your FYP

[Bona]

Did OP suggest he was playing no limit? I must have nissed that.

[StregaChess]

I think you need to better define the case, let's say you are short stacked in a MTT and you are looking for a hand to shove. I'd often rather be shoving 98s opposed to Kx

[pokerloser10056]

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Did OP suggest he was playing no limit? I must have nissed that.

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Sorry forgot to put that in. I play at 10max and 25max NLHE.

[Shoot59]

Here are a few examples of suited connector hands, and how they play out....
Scroll down until you see ajmargarine's "hows your SSNL series"

Walk through a few hands and read the discussions.

Some Starting Guidelines pre-flop:

SC's are great to open with IN POSITION,
You can call or raise if several have already limped and you are IN POSITION.
You can sometimes call a raise IN POSITION if there is already a Cold Caller, or if you both have large stack sizes.

You may notice something in common...position.
Playing these hands is much easier if you have the last action on future betting rounds.

Look for threads in Micro NL and Small Stakes NL forums with headings about SC's, combo draws, big draws, etc...to get a feel for how you should go about playing draws you are likely to have on the flop when playing these types of hands.

[mikever]

Curious about how you play your small pairs, cause a lot of people play them wrong.

Anyway, I play short handed, and I play LAG, so I will give you my answer. After glancing at the other posts, two things I saw I will echo: It depends on the situation, and position.

In short-handed (six or fewer players) I will open-raise with SC from any position. First position, no problem. If it's a tight game, I will open raise with even 23s from UTG. If it is an aggressive game, I will start around 76s from UTG. If it is a REALLY aggressive game, I don't raise from UTG with small SCs.

I almost never call with them from out of position. I will call with them in position if I think I can outplay someone postflop, and if I think I can get big implied odds with them if I hit big. (I will not call a raise from a small stack.)

If one person limps ahead, I will raise to isolate and take down the flop with a c-bet (this, like everything else, depends heavily on the opponent and the way they play, but this is typical). If two people limp, I may raise to isolate, depending on the nature of the table, or I will limp behind. If three or more limp, I will limp to see a cheap flop.

Hope this helps.