More Poker Advice
After slamming Waffles in the last post, this one is to praise something he said about people who "hate" suited connectors.
He insists that those people who claim to hate the hand actually love it. And they do. I know they do because I do. But if you don't understand why we love it, you're just going to get yourself in trouble with it.
The reason why we love suited connectors (along with suited one-gappers and even two-gappers sometimes) is that they can make VERY BIG HANDS, and they can do that in a LOT OF WAYS. We don't just like to play these hands, we REALLY like calling raises with them. Insanity, right?
If you make a straight or a flush, you can take down a very big pot from someone with an overpair, a set or even a big two-pair. Especially from guys who get married to their hands and make big overbets trying to FORCE them to hold up. Or if you hit a nice drawing hand you can push your opponents off weaker holdings. You hit an OESD and you can push that guy off his continuation bet with AQ that missed.
But the sirens song of the suited connectors is the DREADED two pairs. Two pairs SUCKS with suited connectors, because they often make other players hands, and your two pair is usually something shitty like 5s and 4s.
If you are going to have a love affair with suited connectors, you have to be able to control yourself with a weaker hand like two pairs. Even when you're POSITIVE that your opponent has Aces and you're ahead, don't go nuts. Boards can pair, people hit sets, even straights and flushes happen occasionally. There's nothing wrong with seeing a river card hit the table with money still in your stack sometimes.
Play those suited cards and try to hit those big hands, taking stacks and stacks off opponents when you do. If you happen to hit trips with it you can win some juicy pots too. But don't get over-stimulated by the weaker hands you hit with them. Try to get some value and win some smaller pots with them, but don't get too carried away.
Your overall bankroll will thank you.
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3 comments:
LOL - here is a two pr gapper connector gone GOOD:
Full Tilt Poker Game #4554287313: Table Auborn (6 max) - $10/$20 - No Limit Hold'em - 13:03:38 ET - 2007/12/19
Seat 1: PurpleHazze321 ($3,621.40)
Seat 2: Fuel55 ($2,185.50)
Seat 3: thorladen ($2,327)
Seat 4: shewak ($987)
Seat 5: TSP1 ($1,262.20)
Seat 6: padirk165 ($1,100.50)
PurpleHazze321 posts the small blind of $10
Fuel55 posts the big blind of $20
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Fuel55 [8c 5c]
thorladen raises to $70
shewak folds
TSP1 folds
padirk165 calls $70
PurpleHazze321 folds
Fuel55 calls $50
*** FLOP *** [4d 8d 5h]
Fuel55 checks
thorladen checks
padirk165 bets $155
Fuel55 raises to $685
thorladen folds
padirk165 has 15 seconds left to act
padirk165 calls $530
*** TURN *** [4d 8d 5h] [8h]
Fuel55 bets $1,430.50, and is all in
padirk165 calls $345.50, and is all in
Fuel55 shows [8c 5c]
padirk165 shows [6d 6s]
Uncalled bet of $1,085 returned to Fuel55
*** RIVER *** [4d 8d 5h 8h] [3s]
Fuel55 shows a full house, Eights full of Fives
padirk165 shows two pair, Eights and Sixes
Fuel55 wins the pot ($2,278) with a full house, Eights full of Fives
padirk165 adds $2,000
I'm not 100% on board, Duggles. After all, its those hidden two-pairs that get paid off with suited connectors. They're best played against bigger hands that cannot let go of top pair or over pairs. Those same players never believe that you are playing 34s, so they don't worry about the K43 flop if they have AK. In Woffles case, he WAS extremely ahead when he got that guy to commit his chips. If you are only playing suited connectors for straights and flushes, those hands won't happen enough to make it profitable. You have to be willing to pull the trigger when you hit your two pair unless the board is very coordinated.
I'm not saying don't play the hands when you hit two pair, I'm just saying try to control the pot a little bit more than "push and pray."
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