What to do with Suited Connectors

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33Elias33

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I never know how to play suited connectors (56-J10) in unopened pots from middle position when people start getting shallow. Seems like they are super exposed to jams from stacks in the 10-20bb range.

How do you handle this?

-Elias
 
You can counter this by not opening with marginal hands when there's 3bet shove stacks behind you.
 
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You are correct that you will be open to be shoved on but that's something you can look into in advance. Watch the player as you are playing for there tendency's. You should not just look to enter the pot with these hands but have a better idea on what the other players will do if you enter the pot. If they are a player who is aggressive and likely to shove on you just fold the hand and wait for a better one or time. If they are a type of player who will only shove a big hand raise it up.
 
Before considering the option of play suited connectors (56-J10) you must first analyze and observe how your opponents play ... once you have enough information about them ... you can decide whether to play suitable connectors (56-J10). If they are very passive and predictable opponents ... then start playing the play suited connectors (56-J10)
 
I like to play low suited connectors when I'm deepstack because of better playability. Midstack just high connectors (98s+)

If you have shortstacks behind you have to be a bit more tight and be ready to fold to a shove, but I think it still makes sense to OR suited connectors.
 
Small suit connectors are a good hand for a deep stack, if you have a short stack, then you need to play carefully, watch the players sitting after you, what their stacks are and how aggressive they are. A player sitting after you with a short stack is likely to put all-in, and an aggressive player with a large stack can put a reray. Need to think that you will to do after its rates. Will be able to answer the re-raise or all-in then play, if not then fold, do not fall in love with your hand.
 
It is better not to enter the game if you are not confident in your hands. I mean, you need to act confidently and weigh all the factors before you show aggression with a marginal hand, and this: the stage of the tournament, the aggressiveness of the players after you, the number of chips !!!
 
playing this type of hands depends on the information you have of your opponents I in particular 5-6 suited I do not like and even in the best case I would play it, they are hands that can bring problems therefore you have to be very careful when we decided to play them
 
I've started playing conservatively in this situation (as many of you suggested) but I think it may still be important for me to have some bluffs in my opening range. Otherwise I am too easy to read.
 
If I'm feeling lucky (happens once, maybe twice a year) I'll make a normal open and call the shove. The rest of the time I'll limp. If somebody after me wants to make a normal raise, I'm in. If they want to go postal, I'm out. Limping btw is a great way to get people to reveal much more than they should.

Small/mid-range suited connectors present a LOT of risk. You lose most flush v. flush hands. You rarely have top pair. Your straight can be topped by a better straight. Your two pair can be topped by a better two pair. Your set can be topped by a better set or more often a full house. I've seen all of these things happen many, many times.

Yes, they have a pretty good chance of flopping a draw, but that draw can easily cost you a lot and in the end get you nowhere good.
 
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It is best to enter the game with suited connectors in late position. In this case, you will see the whole dynamics of the game.

The general strategy of the game with suited connectors on pre-flop:
1) JTs, T9s - raise from any position;
2) 98s - raise from the middle position;
3) 87s, 76s, 65s - raise from the late positions.

If you don't hit the flop, then fold. Playing suited connectors should strive to collect a straight, flush or combo-draw.
 
I try to see a flop with suited connectors for as cheaply as possible. If I'm UTG, I'll actually even open with a standard raise if my stack is big enough - but of course, this is always vulnerable to an open shove. If the flop doesn't leave me with any draws, I'll aim to get out of the hand as cheaply as possible. If I'm short stacked enough, I might decide to get it in and pray to the poker gods.
 
Try to get in the pot, of course if you have pot odds. They are great for catchinflg straights and flushes ��
 
56ss very weak hand. I had often played it. When a friend told the dealer that the 50 hands worth 56 collects only 2 times I realized that this is a garbage hand. 10j fairly strong hand. Preflop often falls top card from j to a. They give us a couple, or a chance that we will collect on the turn straight draw.
 
33Elias33 said:
I never know how to play suited connectors (56-J10) in unopened pots from middle position when people start getting shallow. Seems like they are super exposed to jams from stacks in the 10-20bb range.

How do you handle this?

-Elias
Click to expand...


In addition to the really good advice given so far, look up stack to pot ratio (SPR). If someone has a short stack, the SPR will be high (assuming you expect them to get involved in the pot), which should make you lean towards playing hands with better raw equity such as broadways (as opposed to playing hands that have good implied odds like suited connectors). Basically the effective stack size is what you should be looking at.

http://www.thepokerbank.com/strategy/concepts/spr/

https://redchippoker.com/spr-stack-to-pot-ratio-podcast/
 
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