Hi all,
I have this question about playing with suited connectors (mainly in NL10)
Are they any good using them like small pocket pairs? Because for quite a long time I've had a habbit just to call a 2-6 bb raise if I'm in position, and after the flop comes mostly hit or fold. I'm pretty sure that's cool if there are some callers already, then the odds get really comfortable, but what about the one on one situation?
Am I losing at the moment I call, say, 14/11's or 9/8's preflop raises with 87s?

Playing these small connectors after raise isn't profitable I think because we don't get big enough odds to hit something and most of the time we will lose even if we hit pair. For example there is only 5% chance that we will hit flush on the flop with suited cards.

Its pretty impossible to answer those questions as its pretty situational. A good player will profit calling say a MP open from a Tag with a whole host of Sc`s because he will know what boards he can float, know what boards he can raise and know which boards he has to fold. An average or bad player wont so will make a lot of errors like folding when they could raise or raising/calling when they should fold.

You will notice that a lot of very good players have wide gaps in their VPIP/PFR simply because they can play so well postflop and just out play everyone where as you tend to find people that dont play that well post flop have narrow gaps because most of their play is pre flop or as the aggressor on the flop.

OK.. Till I figure out something better to get out of NL10 , I guess I'll use the knowledge of P*kerstrategy.com
Thanks for the replies by the way.

SC's = JTs - 54s ; S1G's = J9s - 53s ; S2G's = Q9s - 74s

These are my definitions. I exclude double broadway S1G's and S2G's, because they play like TPGK hands more often than straight and flush catchers. I exclude 43s, 42s, 32s, because they flop poorly and play like trash. I exclude 63s, 52s because they can not make as many double gut-shot straight draws on the flop.

SC's, S1G's, S2G's all become playable from the cutoff or the button when you are likely to play 4+ handed on the flop. You want high pot odds to take the flop, since you're only 22% to make 2 pair or better over all 5 board cards. I do not recommend limping with these hands, or playing them from any other position at these stakes.

If it's limped to you in the CO w/ SC's, or limped to you on the BTN with any of these hands, then you can profitably raise in position and fold to any 3-bet. On the flop, you can bet/fold on missed boards and bet/call on mega draws (12+ outs, no paired board).

Remember that you must have 2 pair or better to play these hands to showdown. You don't need to bloat the pot with a weak 1 pair hand or drawing hand, taking a free card on the turn is usually best. If you get pressure on the turn and didn't improve your hand, just fold. There will be better spots to play a big pot. It's OK to get bluffed sometimes, after all you should be getting away with your share of bluffs, too.

EDIT: odds of flopping a flush with any suited hand is 0.83%, not 5%; you will flop a flush draw 11.8% of the time. I don't know where that other poster got 5%, but it is not the correct number. No hate.

fold pre

It's player dependent, but I call a lot with suited and even unsuited connectors against many players when I'm on the button. If you can win the pot sometimes without improving, calling will be profitable. I think a lot of the 14/11's and 9/7's at this level play pretty straightforward, so if you're heads up with them by the turn you should have a good feel of where you're at in the hand. The NL $10 games I play in most of the time the preflop raiser will fire one c-bet and then give up the turn if they don't have at least top pair or an overpair. If you're not playing against a tricky player (who might checkraise a turn bet for instance) you are fine to play a lot of hands on the button for a raise. Just watch out for the blinds though, if you have players in the blinds who like to reraise/squeeze, you may have to fold some of these hands on the button since you won't be able to call the reraise.