How deep are effective stacks in the examples? I have some books by Ed Miller and he gives a lot of 200BB+ examples IIRC. In those cases suitedness adds a lot more value to a hand compared to 100BB deep.
And AXs and suited connectors are good for more than just drawing to the nuts. You can make marginal hands and extract thin value, you can make hidden two pair hands, you can leverage scary boards to triple barrel even when you miss, etc.
I agree to some extent that you won't get paid off (as in stacking someone) as often as writers seem to assume with a flush, but straights are different. I'd generally rather hit a straight for a couple reasons: one, when you hit a straight you generally need two specific hole cards which have 16 combinations (4 if you only play the suited connectors), so players will assume it's less likely; and two, straights can be hard to see on many boards. Flushes on the other hand are very easy to see and when a 3-flush is on the board, there are something like 55 combinations of hole cards a player could have to complete the flush.
Still, it's not hard to extract value with flushes even when you don't stack someone. Keep in mind though you don't need to raise big to build a big pot in weak games. If you raise in EP to $6 and get 5 callers (a typical result), you've got $33+ on the flop and it should be easy to build a pot most of the time, because with that many callers you'll get at least a couple player peeling the flop bet, especially if the board is draw heavy (which would be the case if you're drawing to a flush). I agree if you're heads up you probably won't stack your opponent but in multiway pots you can win just as much by charging the draws to come along until the river. They may give up then if their draw didn't make it, but you can still build a big pot.
Example: You have A
5
. You bet $6 from EP and get 5 calls.
Flop: A
4
6
($33)
You bet $25 and get three calls.
Turn: 2
($133)
You bet $90 and get two calls.
River: J
($403)
You go all in and everyone folds. This result is just as good as stacking an opponent assuming 100BB deep, and this kind of hand should be relatively common with AX flush draws on a wet board. And if the river had bricked I think it's still a good spot to shove. AX flush draws provide good triple barrel opportunities IMO.
Balancing your range is also important, especially if you ever want to bluff or even C-bet. You need AXs, suited connectors, and small pocket pairs in your raising range so on any flop you can represent the nuts, giving your C-bets and barreling a lot more credibility. If your raising range in EP is {99+, AJs+, KQs, AQo+}, then flops like 842 could not have hit you, and flops as high as T64 are very unlikely to have hit you. If your opponent is paying attention he can crush you by raising your C-bets or floating and raising the turn. So the way I look at it is yeah, it might be slightly -EV to raise 76s in EP, but you more than make up for it because your C-bets will work more often. You also get a looser image when people realize you're capable of raising suited connectors in EP, which is a good result.
Also, if you raise {99+, AJs+, KQs, AQo+} and limp your AXs, small pocket pairs, and suited connectors, you become very easy to play against.
Now these considerations are more important in 2/5 and tougher games, but even at 1/2 there's usually one or two players paying enough attention to exploit you if you play in a blatantly transparent manner. And if in your region you can't get paid off when hitting flushes, it's likely because your opponents are paying at least some attention, and they could easily exploit you if you raise your big pairs and broadway hands and limp the rest.
EDIT: Let's say we change the EP raising range to including low pocket pairs as you suggest: {22+, AJs+, KQs, AQo+}. How does this compare to Ed's range {22+, A2s+, KTs+, QTs+, JTs, T9s, 98s, 87s, 76s, AQo+}?
There are 114 combos in the first range, 190 in the second. Of particular interest is what happens on mid and low boards. On flops with no J, Q, K, or A, how many combos can represent a hand? In range 1, there are 54 combos. In range 2, there are 118 combos. Moreover, your opponent won't be thinking "he has a pocket pair or nothing" on low to mid flops, but will be wondering about straights, flushes, and pocket pairs. You are far harder to play against with the second range.
Last edited by Shai Hulud; 05-16-2017 at 10:40 PM.