refering to full ring games NL hold'em low stakes

I think I've recently been getting confused with how im suppose to be playing these connector cards and losing too much money with them. My main question is when your holding a hand like 5/6 6/7 4/5 5/7 etc, what conditions pre-flop apply "in general" for you to call?

I usually feel that its good to call a hand like 9/10, 8/9,10/j, qj, 10q so long as there is 2 callers in front of me with no raise (so obviously im never gonna play them in early). However, i find it questionable to make a call with 2 callers with the lower connectors. Your rarely going to flop something big vs something big but not queite as good as yours. Thus your not going to make much money "generally" from low connectors. Especially when your playing multiway with low cards. If there is a raise preflop and a couple of callers then your potential is huge on profit because there usually going to be playing pretty good card (especially the tight people) ie they got Ak and you have 57 and flop comes 57A. How do you think small connectors should be played pre-flop? what criteria would meet your needs to play them?

Seems like you have the right idea here. Limp with many behind, only call a raise if several others have come in as well, etc. Sometimes I raise SCs in position too. How are you losing money with SCs then, flush over flushes, chasing too much, or something else? I like limping Ax suited also for the power of having the nut flush. As long as you are seeing flops cheaply and following correct pot odds, you are fine.

Small connectors don't have much value, because you're forfeiting 2 of your outs to flush draws on the flop and even up to 4 to 6 of your outs on the turn to a BDSD or pair. Even tho' you're getting excellent pot odds to make the call pre-flop, you're getting horrible reverse implied odds for the rest of the hand to over straights.

JT, T9 and 98o are reasonable with 1 raiser and 2 callers, 3 limpers or a BB discount, but 87-54 should be reserved for button steals.

It's more or less the same reason you don't call with any 2 suited cards in limped pots, you either want to maximize your equity with suited connectors or draw to the best possible hand with either suited aces or JT.

Edit: OP, you mean just connectors and not suited connectors right?

in NL low stakes, it actually matters more how badly the people play post flop. Against one extremely bad post flop player I would consider calling with 4h3h if we were sufficiently deep. If everyone plays well post flop, then maybe we need a few callers before we join the pot. The more callers the better the pot odds, but often the worse the implied, since players know flushes and straights are more likely when they are in a massively multi-way pot.

The main hints of playing suited connectors are already said.

I like to play with them and call raises infront of me, when I have much money behind and my opponent is able to donk of his hole stak or otherwise the opponent has a modest sized stack too infront of him and he is able to lose a big part of it.

Always be aware if someone raises and he got 2 callers and you call on the CO or Button aswell. They put you on some sort of that hand. The reverse conclusion is. When the cards are low on the Flop and you didnt hit either you can take it down with a bet or raise right there. If their are great players they wont give up that easy in that spot.

You cant really give stare advices for playing any two cards. Cause it depends all on your opponents. I play live and after i while I knew when someone cant fold his TopPair and Top Kicker. I make my two pair on the Flop or a straight on the turn and my money goes in the middle

simply in low stakes ring games, call with suited connectors pre flop, the players aren't as good so your almost certainly going to get a big pay off im you hit your straight or flush.

never call a 3x raise though with small suited connectors, but depending on your reads of the players and the way the table is playing, call a standard raise with 10-8, j-10 etc, nothing realy lower than 8-7.

the pay off in low stakes cash is as big as it gets when suited connectors hit. its low enough stakes for you to comfortably gamble like that.

SCs are also great hands to play for squeeze value to balance your 3bet ranges.

+1


Basically, in position against a deep stacked bad passive player.

Sounds like there is a lot of concepts that you don't currently use in your game. There is not one way to play small suited connectors for every situation. It is going to be very player dependent, and other things dependent.

For example, you have an aggressive, but not overly donkish, player who raises from MP. Others fold to you. you are OTB. This is a great place to raise, or perhaps call. You are not necessarily trying to hit to win, you are just trying to outplay. So you put your opponent on a range, which could be somewhat wide. No trash, but a good percentage of hands if he's aggressive and has been raising a lot here. Let's say you call with 67s and flop comes J52r. He puts in a cbet, you probably should be raising this near 100 percent if he has a high cbet percentage. This will change as you build history.

Let's say you have the same 67s and the same middle position player opens for a raise, but this time there is a weak-tight player who calls ahead of you. This may be a great time for a squeeze. It's going to look like real strength, and our lag player in mid position has such a wide range that he will be folding to our light 3bet a lot here, and so will the tight player who called after.

You are again on button with 67s, and this time a TAG opens in EP. This is probably a bad time to raise, because his range is pretty tight. AK AQ, JJ+, sometimes KQ, TT. If he has AK and QQ+ you will often face a reraise if you raise. But since you know his narrow range, you can call with 67s and outplay him on the flop in posiiton, but proceed cautiously unless you hit a monster. You're going to adjust with history and a feel for how they are playing and how much they fold to cbets and how much they cbet then fold to raise on flops.

Also, you have to consider stacks. The smaller the stack they have, the less likely I will call with a SSC. I want to have a hand with some real meat if I call in that spot. The bigger the stack, and the more implied odds I think I'm getting, the more I will want to call.

Just some ideas to consider.

P.S. One of the main benefits of playing SSCs this way is to put yourself in position to get paid off when you hit a monster with them, and also to put yourself in position to get paid when you 3-bet with AA KK AK. The nice thing about SSCs is that you can get away from your hand easy if your aggressive play does not take the pot down, and you have not lost a lot of money. If you realize your opponent is never folding and is calling calling calling, go to valuetown on him with a real hand. You always have to adjust.

OK, What about at micro stakes online or a 1/2 live table that is mostly passive, maybe a couple of loose players, and maybe a couple rocks mixed in.
How do you play K Q UTG ?

.Draidin.

I posted this over in the micro FR forum, but it only applies to when you're facing a raise and have position.
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...d.php?t=217838

F O L D !


(FR, Obv.)