General Poker Strategy: Playing Suited Connectors

Playing suited connectors can be a great strategy. In fact, it is one of poker legend, Doyle Brunson’s, favorite hands when playing No-limit Hold’em. They can be utilized in a Hold’em game but they may not be as effective. Suited connectors can be extremely powerful because they make it possible for a player to draw to a flush and straight at the same time and sometimes even a straight flush. Also, individuals can play these hands and not bring attention to them selves, rather they can stay hidden.

It is best to play suited connectors, especially small ones, in the late to mid positions when there are a lot of people calling. This is because the pot odds must be good to play this hand and the odds are better when there are a lot of callers.

Suited connectors also have another advantage. The implied odds are very good. For those unfamiliar with the term, implied odds are what a player expects to win from ones opponents after they are able to hit. When a person hits with their suited connectors, their implied odds are great. They can expect to make a nice profit. Individuals will make even more money if they are able to hit with a large pocket pair.

Phil Hellmuth, an 11 time WSOP winner gives his own advice regarding how to play medium suited connectors. He contends that suite connectors should only be played sparingly. He believes that players will be best served by plying No-Limit tightly and he sees medium suited connectors as being quite risky. He goes further to say that they shouldn’t at all be a strategy that is utilized by beginner players or even moderately experienced ones.

Hellmuth suggests that only advanced players use suited connectors. This is because he believes that it requires the ability to read one’s opponents, a skill that average players may not have yet mastered. Whether or not a person decides to use suited connectors will be up to them. There is certainly nothing wrong with giving it a try every now and them. For those that are really worried about playing it wrong, it might be a good idea to use them in free games, get comfortable and then try them in real-money games.

Tags: playing, pocket connectors, Poker, strategy

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 14th, 2010 at 5:01 pm and is filed under Poker News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.