Betting on Suited Connectors by JenGen7

Not long ago, a fellow league player challenged our entire league team to “try something different” when we were going through a tough losing streak. 

Since I had tried just about everything I could think of like playing tight, playing loose, only betting top tier hands, and even being overly aggressive with my betting. Nothing seemed to make a difference.

As I tried to wrap my brain around this challenge to think outside the box, the one thing I knew I had not really tried much was betting suited connectors. Honestly, I never really liked playing suited connectors. Where I found them to bring me some wins, was if I had them in the big blind. I found they hit straights or flushes close to half the time.

A suited connector hand is a pocket pair of consecutive suited cards like 5, 6 of clubs. Now, I would always bet the face cards like A, K or Q, J. It’s the lower cards I struggled to see the value in betting.

I decided to take my teammates advice and spent my next team game playing the lower suited connectors whenever I had them. The results were better than I expected. When playing the suited connectors in the big blind, I found I won hands with these pocket cards about half the time. Which in poker, I find to be pretty good odds. 

Now, I would not bet the farm on this hand before the flop, and I would never use them to chase a hand down if I did not hit something on the flop. Possibly, I would call on small bets to see the turn if I had something to work with on the flop.

There is also the less talked about suited gappers. These are pocket cards of like a 5, 7 of clubs. Suited gappers will have slightly less good odds of landing a straight, but do carry better odds with landing flushes.

Having been issued this challenge, I found that if I played position well, I won more hands with suited connectors than I expected. So, give this some thought and challenge yourself to try something new if your game seems a little stale. Good luck at the tables. 

Thank you Doon101 for the inspiration.

– JenGen7