I've finished reading Ed Miller's "The Course" and the OP has mischaracterized Ed Miller's conclusions regarding suitedness. His summation of Ed's arguments leave out the most important points and distort others. For reference here is the relevant portion of the OP.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brawndo
I recently read Ed Miller's book "The Course" which is focused on how to play 1/2 ,2/5, 5/10 live games. Although I generally like the book I find myself very much in disagreement with some of his pre flop hand selection he suggest. Specifically the value he places on suitedness and to some extend connectedness. But in case I'm wrong I want to here the counter arguments people have for this logic and Ed if you're on here please chime in. I'll explain my thinking below.
As an example here's what Ed Miller suggest for early position which he defines as all spots to the right of the cutoff:
22+
A2s+, KTs+, QTs+, JTs+ -76s+
AKo, AQo
I personally play more offsuit broadway cards and would cut out the weaker Axs and lower SC.
So Ed's arguments goes like this. He agrees you'll rarely flop a flush but he says playing suited cards makes sense cause you can semi bluff with a flush draw. He also says that because flushes are a big hands they can win big pots.
I also would add I here somewhat related arguments from players and websites that go something like this: "If I call for $2 I can stack the person with my SC if I hit a straight or flush". Maybe in some touristy areas this is true but in my area (Philly) this is generally not true. These people tend to group low pairs and SC together as "implied odds hands". I agree low/mid pairs have huge implied odds but I think it's a myth that SC do cause everyone can see 3 of suit or 3 coordinated cards on the board.
....
Balancing your range
This is one other argument I here for these cards is that how do you bluff when the flop comes low if you don't play these hands. Well if you play pairs (big and low) then people have to fear you have an overpair or a set. And since a set can be on any board it doesn't have the limitations that SC and Axs have on rainbow boards.
Ed Miller actually says you should virtually NEVER limp with these suited hands for $2 hoping to hit a flush, because that's what all your opponents are doing, and because you're likely to win a small pot when you hit. Instead, raise these hands to build a pot. He also doesn't mention range balancing as a reason to play suited hands.
Here are the counterarguments in favor of playing suited hands, straight from the horse's mouth.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ed Miller from "The Course"
- Sure, suited hands make flushes by the river only six percent of the time. But a flush is a big hand and almost always wins the pot. Getting an extra six-percent chance to win a pot is pretty valuable.
- Big hands are capable of winning big pots. So it's not just any six percent of pots we're talking about here. The pots you win with flushes will often be among the biggest pots you win. In no-limit, we're not just interested in how often something happens. but how much you might win if it does. So even if flushes are rare, they can be a huge windfall.
- Big hands can also win multi-way pots. If you routinely see a flop with four-to-six opponents, the ability to make a big winning hand takes on greater importance.
- How big do you think the edges are in poker? Casinos have been built on winnings from blackjack, craps, and baccarat, and the house edges in those games are often less than three percent. You can't laugh off a six-percent chance and expect to win.
Furthermore, suitedness is the most important factor a hand can have when it comes to equity-when-called. True, suited cards may not actually turn into flushes all that often. But suited cards flop flush draws considerably more often.
What's the value of a flush draw you ask? Having a flush draw to fall back on if your bluff gets called is among the best equity you can have. It's so good, in fact, that your equity-when-called should you flop just a backdoor flush draw (e.g., J T on a 9 5 3 flop) is quite significant.
Suitedness is so important that, for the most part, unsuited hands are unplayable in this game.
Ed spends a lot of time explaining the value of bluffing and in particular, barreling.
He gives an example of an opponent who folds 1/2 the time on the flop, 1/4 the time on the turn, and 1/8 the time on the river, and shows that in a vacuum a triple barrel bluff with any two cards will be profitable here. However, opponents would quickly catch on, so it's important not to play too many hands to maximize chances your bluffs work, which is why the frequency we raise is important.
And in selecting those hands, you should choose hands that have the most
equity-when-called, as Ed calls it, to maximize profitability of these bluffs.
Suited hands have more
equity-when-called than any other type of bluffing hand. Yes, you flop a flush .84% of the time. But you flop a flush draw 11% of the time. And most important, you flop a backdoor flush draw 41.7% of the time. Note combined, you flop at least a backdoor flush draw 52.54% of the time.
With a flush, you should triple barrel.
With a non-made-hand flush draw, you should typically bet the flop and turn (double barrel) and bet the river (triple barrel) depending on board texture and your reads on your opponent. Even if the flush doesn't come, there are usually other scare cards we can bet (for instance, overcards, cards that pair the board, or cards completing a straight).
With a non-made-hand backdoor flush draw, you should typically bet the flop with the plan of firing again on the turn if you improve to a flush draw, and then fire again on the river depending on board texture. In addition, when you make a flush this way it will tend to be disguised, increasing the probability your opponent calls the last bet.
Note SCs can make even better barreling hands. Take 8
7
on a A
T
5
flop.
We should typically bet this flop hard, then fire again on the turn for any club, J, 9, 6, or 4, and possibly other scare cards like any heart, T, or 5, and to a lesser extent any K, Q, 8, 7, 3, or 2. On this particular board we can fire again with a strong draw on 23 turn cards, and turn our hand into a pure bluff on most of the rest. For example, if the turn is the 4
, we can still barrel the river as a bluff for any heart, T, 6, 5, 4, 3, or 2, and to a lesser extent any 8 or 7, though these may have some showdown value if villain was drawing.
Many players would not bluff the heart, worrying villain is on a heart draw, but there are only 55/1176 heart draw combos possible (assuming villain plays all hearts), and once the third heart hits, this drops to 45/1128 (4%) heart flushes. It is much more likely villain has a straight draw or {AT+). Just AT+ (no suited hearts) accounts for 41 combos, almost as many as every possible suited heart combo. Considering villain likely drops weaker suited hands from his range in a raised pot, representing the heart flush should be profitable against villains who don't overvalue top pair.