In poker, a suited connector refers to two adjacent cards that are also of the same suit. For instance:

or

are both examples of a suited connector. By extension, most players also refer to one-gappers as a suited connector, as well. A one gapper would be something like:

or

Although some suited connectors also have high card strength, in this discussion we'll mainly be referring to the smaller connectors and the speculative value of these hands: namely, their ability to make straights and flushes.

Suited Connectors are part of a group called "speculative hands", which also includes small pocket pairs. Since they generally have little high card strength, speculative hands rely heavily on implied odds to show a profit, and therefore do best in large, multi-way pots. They prefer passive tables, since you will often flop a draw or a combo draw and will need further cards to improve.

The purpose of a speculative hand is to make a straight or a flush against a top pair type hand. Because of the way these hands develop, a speculative hand can often have a top pair hand drawing completely dead after the flop. That being said, it can be easy to drain your stack if you're not careful - for novice players especially, the motto of speculative hands should be this: get in cheap and stay in cheap, or fold.

However, in no-limit poker, suited connectors can be quite lucrative, especially against the typical player who overvalues one pair post-flop. While they don't hit that often, when they do, you could be in for a big score if you're up against a premium starting hand. For this reason, they can absorb a few more raises pre-flop (and perhaps on the flop) if it means a ripe payout when the right card(s) come(s).

Although I wouldn't get too carried away, I firmly believe that a solid player, (and by this I mean one who is well versed in post-flop analysis) can play these cards in any position. I can't tell you how many times I've raised with:

or

under the gun. It all depends on the attitude of the table at the time, and of course, if we have enough chips. Since these types of hands depend so heavily on implied odds, they're not hands you'll want to play when short stacked.

Now, I use a small bet-size system, so I can get away with a little more without hurting my stack. But even if you're only extending your under the gun range down to, say:

if you're going to play as the first one in, you should come in for a raise. If someone else has already gotten involved, limping is fine, and if that someone has raised, then it all depends on the table and the raiser. If you can count on enticing a large, multi-way pot, then calling a raise even from an early position could be okay. However, it's rare that you can count on anything in poker, so make sure you pay close attention to what your opponents let you get away with.

The difficulty inherent in playing suited connectors comes with their ability to make substandard made hands. What you need to remember when playing deep-stacked, no-limit Hold 'Em is that small cards like this are only powerful for the straights and flushes they can make. They will sometimes make a deceptive trips or full house as well, but their main strength lies in the huge pots they can create when hitting speculative outs against a top pair type hand.

Let's look at a few situations on how to handle suited connectors.

Example 1:

You're playing $3-$5 no-limit Hold 'Em. You and all of your opponents have over $500 in chips. In middle position, you look down to find:

The player third to act limps, as well as the player to your immediate right. You decide to limp as well. Another player behind you limps, the small blind completes, and then the big blind checks. With six players in, including yourself, the flop comes down:

giving you a flush draw and a gutshot straight draw. The pot is $30. The first player checks; the second player bets $25.

Although you only have nine high at the moment, any heart would give you a flush, and a seven would give you the nut straight. The bettor, since he didn't raise pre-flop, could be semi-bluffing with a larger flush draw such as:

or an open ended straight draw like:

Most players who bet that amount in this spot, however, are probably trying to protect a legitimate hand such as:

or ever

Although some players would check a set of sixes here, and perhaps even two pair, most players would bet to narrow the field because of the drawish board. Everyone approaches these things differently, which is why it's so important to understand how your opponents approach these types of situations.

First, let's look at how your hand would fare against each of these different hands. The percentiles refer to how often, approximately, your hand will win against the indicated hand.

KQ: 48%

QJ: 43%

66: 34%

65: 43%

87: 79%

AT: 27%

With this information, you can see that your average winning chances lie at about 46%. What this means in practical use is that you don't need much more than 1.1 - 1 on your money to profitably play. With a total of $55 in the pot and oodles of chips behind, you're getting at least 2 - 1 on your money plus whatever amount you can get on the later betting rounds. How you choose to continue depends on your preferred style of play, as well as your opponents tendencies. Already, you have a few options. Let's explore each of them.

Folding. Not an option. While there are players left who could raise or check-raise, and you might still get pushed off the hand, the chance at winning a robust pot are too large to pass up just yet. If you want to fold here, have fun waiting for big cards and moaning when they get cracked by real players.

Raising. There's two schools of thought here, and I'll try to give both of them equal credence.

a) One argues for raising a small amount, to say, $50 - $60 dollars total. With this approach, one of several things could happen. First of all, you might win the pot without further resistance, although this isn't as likely than if you had raised a larger amount. If you get called, you still have a very good chance at winning, so no big deal there. Also, if the original bettor is the only one to call, he will likely check to your show of strength on the turn, allowing you to check and see another card if a blank falls, thus saving what would have probably been a larger bet on the turn. In limit Holdem, free cards are thought of often, but in no-limit Holdem, free cards are often overlooked. Also, raising here helps to define your opponents hand a little further. If another player calls the raise or reraises, you'll have a little more information since they've decided to commit a larger amount of chips. If someone does reraise you'll have to reevaluate the situation once again, but you should be willing to absorb a few chips to see the next card.

b) Other prefer to raise larger amounts, such as the pot or more, and some would even be willing to shove all-in in a pot like this as a semi-bluff. A pot sized raise here would be a total of $105 (including your $25 call). This approach will win the pot much more often that would a smaller bet, and if you do get called, you won't be that bad off. however, the larger the bet, the better quality of hand our opponent will have. While there are some players who would commit their whole stack with top pair here, the typical player is smarter than that. If you shove here and get called, you'll probably be looking at the set, the two pair, or at best a larger flush draw or a pair flush draw combo. Against these hands your chances are only about 35%. It's tough to judge whether or not the added chance that your opponent will fold is worth it, since it's hard to quantify such abstract probabilities. As always, when making large risks. knowing your opponents tendencies well is crucial knowledge

Calling. Adopting a wait and see attitude in this type of situation is a good option as well, and what I would personally do the majority of the time. I would often throw in the small raise as well, to mix it up. With so many players in, getting rid of them isn't necessarily what you want. Since the flush draws, straight draws, and stronger made hands will absorb a raise anyway, you certainly won't knock out those hands that you'd rather not play against. In fact, the only way to win a large pot with a speculative hand is to be up against a pretty strong hand. People who call any bet on a board like this are still giving you information. Also, if the player behind you chooses to raise, or if one of the blinds check-raises, the raise size will be smaller than if you had made the pot bigger, so it won't cost you so much to see another card. If the turn card is a blank, the same logic applies: with a smaller pot, any subsequent bets will be easier for you to absorb to see the river card. Also, with position on the bettor, if the turn card is a heart - or better yet, a seven to makeyou a very deceptive straight - you want your opponent to continue betting. If you had raised the flop, he would likely check the turn, making it harder for you to make a nice sized raise.

Let's see another example. In the same game, ($5-$10 blinds and more than $500 deep) you're on the button with:

Four players limp, and you limp as well; the small blind completes. The big blind then raises to $25, and everyone folds to you. The pot is $55, and it is $20 to call. Because you've noticed that this raiser tends to overplay his pairs on the turn and river out of position, and because you're getting almost 3-1 on your money, you call. Based on how your opponent has been playing (predictably) you're pretty certain that the original raiser has a big pair; for example we'll give him a diamond with:

or

At this point, the suited connector will only win about 20% of the time.

(As a side note, if a third player had called with a hand like a pair of nines, the win percentages for both your hands and his fall to about 18% against the aces. Notice that the nines are about as bad off as what many would call the garbage hand!)

These numbers don't look all that good for your suited one-gapper, but a 20% win rate means you need 4 - 1 on your money to make a profit. You're almost there already. It takes the right kind of opponent to continue here, but those opponents come around quite a bit more often than you might think. All in all, if you include flush draws and open-ended straight draws - combo gutshots and flush draws, etc. etc. - you'll get a flop you want to continue with about 25% of the time. So, 75% of the time, your opponent will (probably) bet, and you'll (probably) fold, losing your extra $20 bet. That's a loss of $15 per call - do you think you can make that up the other 25% of the time? If your opponent has $500 chips, than yes! if 25% of the time you were able to win 25% that stack ($125), you would still make about $31 per call!

Let's look at a flop that could work well for your hand, continuing with the heads up example against aces, and we'll even give both of you a backdoor flush draw:

With this flop, the suited connector will win about 45% of the time; if you change the eight to a diamond, your connector will win a whopping 61% of the time!

So it's easy to see how things would go from there.

Even if you only catch a regular old flush draw, you can generally still continue. With the pot at $75 your opponent will probably bet about $40 - 75$. Let's say on average he bets $60. The pot will be $135, which gives you almost 2.2 - 1 to continue, which is almost exactly how often your flush will come by the river.

You have many options available at this point, similar to those discussed in the previous example. Again, I prefer just calling on flops like this, and seeing what happens on the turn. (It's important to note that I play my big hands, like aces, this way as well.) If a blank falls, your chances fall dramatically, and you'll be able to reevaluate further bets. Also, if you raise, your opponent may shove, and that'll force you to fold many of your draws. In no-limit poker, suited is nice, but it's a big mistake to get yourself shut out of a potentially lucrative situation.

Another thing to take into account here is that sometimes you'll guess wrong, and your opponent will have smaller pair or just two big cards - sometimes he'll check the flop, or give up on the turn when you call. This offers opportunities to steal when any scary, low board hits, especially if you've shown your opponents that you're willing to play "less-than-reputable" cards. In fact, this "passive" style can be quite intimidating, more so than the standard flop raise that so many players like to bluff with. After showing down big hands and top pairs that I've just called with on the flop, it makes it easy for me to steal pots on the turn when my opponent freezes up.

As you get more experienced in post-flop play, suited connectors (and their one-gapper and two-gapper cousins) can be quite lucrative if handled correctly. Just make sure you and your opponents have enough chips, and don't automatically get into a raising war when you catch something nice. Most players are more than willing to give you their chips on the turn and river as they are on the flop.

Good luck at the tables!

Sam @ Power Poker Course.




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