The value of lower suited connectors with or without gap

[Askilus]

Hi,

I have been thinking about my starting hands requirments. When it comes to unsuited hands I think I should limit them to AK, AQ and PPs (discarding the lower PPs in early position if I expect the pot to be raised behind me). Maybe AJ i LP to.

When it comes to the suited cards im not that sure. Which value has a hand like JTs? Or for that matter T9s or 98s? And the one with gaps? J9s for an example. Are they worth playing other than in late position with a lot of limpers? Suited cards with a two gap like J8s, are they ever worth playing?

Please give me some input on this. Which hands that can be playes in which positions.

Best regards,
Fredrik Johansson

[Askilus]

[blackaces13]

If the game is very loose/passive (ie 5 or 6 players to a flop and very little raising) then I think your suited connectors have a lot of value. I'd play 45s or better on the button with 4 or more limper to me, any lower and I may fold. I'd play the 1 gappers down to the 97s on the button with 4 or more limpers. And so on and so forth as your position worsens. I think suited faces are almost always worth playing from any position. Axs can be played from any position as well in the loosest most passive games.

Its interesting to note that not every game you play will meet these criterion. Even on Party .5-1 there are many games where you can't dip this low with the suited connectors or 1 gaps. But if the conditions are right you need to be playing these sorts of hands. JTs is another great hand in loose games that I look for an excuse to play.

[MortalNuts]

[ QUOTE ]
Hi,

I have been thinking about my starting hands requirments. When it comes to unsuited hands I think I should limit them to AK, AQ and PPs (discarding the lower PPs in early position if I expect the pot to be raised behind me). Maybe AJ i LP to.


[/ QUOTE ]

Although most players could probably benefit by staying away from hands like KJo, QJo, etc., especially while they're gaining experience, I think you're giving up too much if you're routinely folding KQo and AJo. Both of those are hands that are usually much, much better than the stuff your opponents are coming in with. Yes, they can make costly 2nd-best hands, but at this level I believe those times are outweighed by the times that, say, you hold AJ, the flop comes J52r, and some guy with JT gives you tons of action. Most of your opponents not only play too many hands, they will also go too far with them when they're way, way behind. You presumably won't, so play AJo and KQo. (Not that this is gospel or anything, but I almost always raise both of those hands if I decide to play them.) Don't get carried away, though -- it should go without saying that these are both easy folds to a tight EP raiser.

A couple other things: suited is good, but in a lot of games it's not THAT much better than unsuited. You'll only flop a flush draw about 11% of the time (and a made flush a bit less than 1%). As you go lower and lower in card value, though, the importance of suitedness becomes greater, since those low cards have few other ways to win.

Anyway, I limp with an awful lot of hands on the button in an unraised pot with a bunch of bad players limping to me. I fold all the hands you mentioned if I'm in EP with no one else in. Everything else is somewhere in between. /images/graemlins/smile.gif Seriously, there are very few times I'd be comfortable playing a hand like J8s. The rest of the hands you mentioned are okay in the right circumstances, but you wouldn't be giving up all that much by always folding them until you get some experience. (And I believe you would be making a much bigger mistake by folding KQo, for instance.) As your skill level relative to your opponents goes up, you can play more hands.

cheers,

mn