Do you want to be like Doyle Brunson? Or do you want to be a LOSER? Learn to play Suited Connectors
January 21, 2009 by The Poker Jerk
Filed under Featured, Poker Advice
If you want to continue to lose at poker, just keep doing what you’re doing. Fine by me! But wouldn’t you rather be a winner, like the iconic Doyle Brunson? Doyle has been kicking ass at poker for decades, and continues to do so. He also writes great poker books based on what he calls his Super System (the first volume is older than I am!).
One of Doyles tips that stood out to me is how he plays small suited connectors. In short, he loves to play them, especially at full tables. According to Doyle, his favorite hand is 8-7 Suited. He almost always plays tha thand, and will often raise with it. What do you normally do when you have 87s? You probably fold it, 9 times out of 10. That’s why Doyle is Doyle, and you are a loser.
The reason 87s is so great is that it’s tough for people to put you on it, and it’s easy to get away from. When someone raises pre-Flop, you usually put them on something like Ax, Kx, or a high pair.
So let’s put together a situation for Doyle:
His hand: 8♥ 7♥
Situation: He raises the minimum, and two players call.
The Flop: J♠ 9♥ 5♥
So because of the raise, most people will assume Doyle has nothing, with the possible exception of a Flush draw. In reality, he has 17 outs, with Flush and Inside Straight draws. Doyle bets, anyone with an Ax or Kx is likely to proceed, possibly with a low pair high kicker:
The Turn: 6♣
Doyle has hit the gut-shot straight, and can continue to bet.
The River: A♥
This is where everything works out for Doyle (as they often tend to do). The guy with A9 or AQ or whatever is likely to go all in, only to run nose-first into Doyle’s straight. Ouch!
If Doyle had not his his straight, he didn’t invest much money at all, and can easily get out of the hand.
If the Turn was: K♥ A♠ 10♦
Someone has almost inevitably made a pair or two, and with no chance at a Flush his hand is pretty much worthless and still easy to get away from at little loss.
So if you want to be like Doyle, and not the loser that you are, learn to play more aggressively, and play those suited connectors properly!
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Canadian players: 
European players: 
I’ve done a lot of research on suited connectors lately. Believe it or not, 76s is probably even better the 87s. One of those things that is not necessarily intuitive to everybody, but makes sense if you really think about it – as your article points out with 87s.
Thanks.
KC
Suited connectors are best used when playing small ball and in good position. they really dont have to connect, they just need potential.
I agree with most of this post. I must admit, I love getting creative with those mid-ranked suited connectors. They seem to play even better when you are amongst the chip leaders and you can use them as a bullying technique against the smaller stacks.
Great site by the way. Hope you don’t mind I linked you from my blog.
I love suited connectors and will often raise with them in early and especially late position if limped to. I will not, however, call a large preflop raise with them heads up in the blinds.
I tend to not necessarily try to isolate when raising, but I rather have several limpers call a medium raise to see the flop; after all, suited connectors are made for multi-way action.
In the example above, I feel the Ah (Ace of Hearts) on the river could only kill the action. It is very difficult to spot a gut-shot, and I even suspect that most weak players will only check call with AJ/A9, when the river completes the flush. Had the river been an Ad (Ace of diamond), you can almost be guaranteed an all in call.
Didn’t “Doyle” hit the flush with that ACE of hearts?
Good advice in general, but remember, the more people in the hand, the less likely that 67 or 78 is going to be the biggest flush out there. Know your opponents and be wary of raising wars on the river/turn when the flush comes. Much better if it’s just you and 1 or 2 other opponents by the time the flush hits. Again it’s all about knowing what your opponents are capable of playing. Remember, somebody could easily be playing 10js of the same suit while you’re counting on the 78s flush being best.
Many players stay away from suited connectors because they take a lot of skill to play correctly. I also see many fish playing them horribly. Played correctly they can definitely be highly profitable.