Features Column

Murph's Poker Corner

By Todd Murphy

The Portland Tribune, Mar 7, 2008

Welcome to the Trib's new feature..... Murph's Poker Corner.

The purpose of this feature is provide strategies and concepts to the beginner/intermediate player for the purpose of improving their game. Todd Murphy is an accomplished poker player and is a former PDX Poker Night champion.

Playing Small Suited Connectors

The fact is, most people over-value the use of small suited connectors in NL Hold 'Em. While there are situations in which they are undoubtedly profitable, they can also be a big leak, especially out of position against certain types of opponents. However, correctly played, small suited connectors can be a winning proposition in small stakes NL Hold 'Em. What is important to remember about small suited connectors especially is that it is rare you are going to really hit a flop hard, so it is important that you only play them when you can see a flop cheaply and you can potentially win a big pot.

Lets firstly look at a couple of situations where it could be profitable to enter a pot with small suited connectors:

• It is folded around to you in late position. A raise here can usually take the blinds. And if you are called you can get away from your hand relatively cheaply if you miss the flop.
• You are in late position and there have been 3 or more callers in front of you in a loose-passive game and you don't fear a raise behind you.
• You can usually call a raise with position on a poor player who plays very badly post flop, especially if you are both deep stacked.

As you might realize from the above, with small suited connectors you are essentially trying to see flops very cheaply and making a big hand or flopping a big draw in position over as many other players as possible. In this situation you usually have some very good implied odds to win a big pot from other players when you hit the flop hard and you can usually get away from your hand without further investment when you miss. If you do have good relative or absolute position, you are often able to bet or raise the flop with a strong draw which will often result in you getting a free card on the turn. This again highlights the importance of position as you can have a good say in controlling the size of the pot. With small suited connectors however, inevitably you are occasionally going to run into a bigger flush, or even a bigger straight. This is particularly true when playing hands such as 56s and flopping a straight with 789. A lot of players will play a TJ or a QT, so be aware that if somebody is giving you action, how likely is it that he's already got you crushed? The same can often apply to flopping a baby flush as it is likely that anybody else in the pot can have around a 30% to outdraw you with a lone A or K of the same suit. So if you do bet this hand (and you should) price your opponent out accordingly.

Let's look at situations when playing small suited connectors is generally not such a good proposition.

• Calling in early position and calling a raise behind you. This is a big leak in most players' games as you will often be check-folding the flop. This is a bad situation. Unless you flop a miracle trips or two pair, playing draws out of position against a preflop raiser is generally expensive. There's also no guarantee you will be paid when you hit your hand so this is generally not a profitable play in the long run.
• Cold-calling a raise. You aren't going to hit a big draw often enough to make this a profitable play heads up and even in position unless the preflop raiser plays very badly and/or you are deep stacked.
• Limping in small unraised pots. This could be completing from the small blind with a mid position caller or limping the button. In an unraised pot it is often difficult to know where you stand and besides the pot being small, most people will have little. Therefore it is rare that you will get a great deal of action when you do make a big hand.

Obviously these situations are generalizations and like all situations in poker, you may play them differently to keep your more observant opponents off balance. Sometimes it may indeed be correct to cold-call a raise in front of you, especially if you are deep-stacked and feel that the player to raise the pot is the type that could very well stack off with a big pair. Equally it could be correct to reraise a tight player from the blinds if you feel that there is a good chance that he will fold often enough to make it a profitable play. This can add some deception to your game which may help in situations where you do re-raise with a monster and that same player may give you action as he could perceive you to be a loose player. So there is the other aspect to playing suited connectors as 'advertising' as well.

Like all hands in NL Hold 'Em, small suited connectors can be played in many different ways but strictly speaking, in low-limit games, if you can get in cheap and in position against a lot of players you can find yourself in a position to win a pretty big pot when you hit. And thats exactly what you're looking for.

Next column, I'll discuss the ins and outs of what has become to be known in local circles as 'Pulling a Murph'.