Suited connectors are some of the most fun hands in hold’em to play. Playing them well requires an understanding of implied odds, semi-bluffing, and river scenarios, since you’ll sometimes reach the river with nothing and have to decide whether to bluff or give up on your hand. For the sake of discussion, we’ll consider suited connectors (and suited-gappers) to be hands containing no aces or face cards.<\/p>\n
The first time you’ll need to consider your implied odds with a suited connector is before flop. It’s common to see players over-estimate their implied odds with a suited connector pre-flop and end up paying too much of their stack in order to see the first three community cards. Suited-connectors can be good hands to three-bet light with, because you’ll often flop hands with decent equity that you can semi-bluff with.<\/p>\n
Whether you should call or three bet with a suited connector depends on your opponent (or opponents), stack sizes, and the table dynamics. If the play at the table is aggressive and you’re likely to face a three-bet behind you, just calling with a suited connector becomes less appealing. And if the player you’re targeting is going to call with a high percentage of hands pre-flop and call down often post flop, then they aren’t a great target for three-bets. But if your opponent is the type to over-value his holdings and demonstrates bad hand reading skills, then he’s a good target to call against while holding suited connectors.<\/p>\n