A Case of Something and Nothing
Suited connected cards and double gapers theoretically have the same appeal as small pairs in that when you hit, you really hit. Well that’s the theory anyway, what often happens though is you hit a bit of something and nothing. Personally I find playing small pairs much easier, it’s black and white, you make your set or you don’t. With connectors and double gapers though there’s a lot more grey area involved, because a one pair with a draw hand on the flop will often offer a complex dilemma that needs to be solved.
These semi-hits with middle cards will see us holding low pairs and mid pairs with a draw on a lot of highly coordinated boards, these hands are often so tricky to play I find it helpful to ask myself some questions.
What’s the value of my made hand? Is it likely to be the best hand at the moment?
A lot of our decisions will be defined by the pre-flop action, so holding 4-5 on a 3-2-5 flop looks like the nuts but if there has been a raise pre-flop we have to consider that there is the distinct possibility that an opponent is holding a big pair, this of course seriously diminishes the value of our made hand as trying to get the average player to fold a big pair on low flops is a losing proposition. Worse than this though our opponents range often holds our worse nightmare, pocket sixes or sevens, they will be highly unlikely to fold and are a better pair with there own draw killing a lot of our outs.
In the same scenario in a limped multi way pot there are a ton of hands in our opponents range that we really don’t want to see either, almost any resistance from an opponent in this scenario see’s us either behind or in trouble against many other hands, ask yourself the question if my opponent moved all in now and I could see his hand, what would I like to see? Your answer is going to be somewhat constricted! There’s almost no hand you’re a big favourite over and a ton or flips and many more much worse situations.
What is the value of my draw? Open ended, Gut shot, Baby flush?
They all have different chances of being the best draw especially in multi way pots, because believe it or not you’re not the only player who likes to play suited connectors and double gapers!
Let’s say we have limped with 78 of clubs and the board comes 5-8-9 rainbow, the 6-7 is a possibility 9-10 and 9-8 as well and we are all hands we are underdog too. So the value of our hand in a limped multi way pot is a lot less than in a one or two handed raised pot where we know we might not have the best hand but our outs are a lot cleaner.
Combo draws look huge but are often big mathematical under dog’s so remember why your playing them, not to hit half a flop but to smash the flop or you might find yourself pushing too hard in situations the require a much more delicate touch. In these pair and draw situations its always worth remembering its hard to get paid off so factor this in to your equations when deciding if you are getting the right price to call or not. Getting paid by pockets 9’s on a 3-4-5 flop holding 7-6 is one thing, but getting pair on a 4-5-6-3 board after you have check called a bet on the flop is a whole different proposition.
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[...] admin wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptSuited connected cards and double gapers theoretically have the same appeal as small pairs in that when you hit, you really hit. Well that’s the theory. [...]