Quote Originally Posted by Thunder
1) Lots of people advocate playing suited connectors and no one seems to question such plays. However, one of the biggest noob mistakes is to get excited when the hole cards are of the same suit. And that they're suited has little influence on your hand or your chances of making a flushGood .

With this in mind, why are suited connectors advocated so much?
In LH, you often have odds to draw to those hands, and they hold up well in the typical multiway pots LH generates. In NLH, they are selectively useful for different reasons. NLH is a game where you make or lose money in big pots. The suited connectors from late position in a multiway pot often lead to situations where you can play a big draw for huge +EV. The reasons for playing sc's from late position in NLH:

1. Big and deceptive draws. Example, 87 suited w/ a flop of 9 8 6, two from your suit. Depending on the action, you may even be ahead here with your medium pair. If not, you have 9 flush outs and 6 more straight outs. In a multiway pot where everyone has bet small, you're expecting hands like A7 and J9. If they hit the flop hard enough, especially with straight outs, you are very likely to take down a big pot. You have plenty of muscle for small and medium pots, too. And you're hard for an opponent to put on a range since so many cards help your hand.

2. Better pot odds. Folks who see the draw-happy boards often raise bigger than normal with made hands to deny you the odds to call. They may bet 2/3 of the pot which, if you only had flush outs, would be enough to make your call a bad one (ignoring implied odds, assuming that they'll dry up if the 3rd flush card hits the board). But here, you're getting 3 to 1 on your bet and are only 2 to 1 against hitting it. Also, even a pot-sized raise on the turn will give you even money on a call, plus a chance to win more.

3. SC's are easy to lay down when they miss. Example: you have 76s and have the flop come A J 4 rainbow. No problems folding. It's often much more clear cut when you're ahead (or have the draw/pot odds to get ahead) than with an unpaired high card hand like AJ.

Given these benefits, also remember this. The more people to act behind you pre-flop, the less likely you are in to find yourself in the type of pot you want. Play these late, late, late. For newbiews, they should start playing these from the button. I know you get hands like these in the blinds, too, but they're extremely difficult to play out of position at times. Pick your spots, play them a few dozen times, and you'll get a feel for it.

As to high cards and suited-ness, being suited doesn't add all that much value to AJ, since you can win a lot easier by pairing the A or J than by making a flush. But in very specific situations, playing suited connectors can lead to huge draws that are deceptive, strong, easy to play, and likely to get paid off.