The SBP Archives - Your less than frequent dose of SBP!

People love suited cards. You look down at say, an 8 and 7 of diamonds (suited connectors). If they were mixed suits you'd probably throw them away. But they look so pretty all suited like that! You imagine winning a monster pot once you hit your flush. It's definitely tempting. But think twice about it.

Depending on how late in the stage of the game you're at, how many players at your table, your position at the table, your stack size and if there have been any pre-flop raises (yes, a lot to take into consideration), you may decide to gamble and play your suited cards. It's part of a well-balanced strategy to keep your opponent guessing as to what cards you are holding.

HOWEVER, suited cards do not increase your odds of winning as much as you may think. Put it this way: how often in a night do you hit a full house? Once maybe? Twice if you're really lucky? Odds are probably not at all. A flush ranks just below a full house in terms of what hand wins in a showdown. People don't make flushes as often as it seems. In fact, if you start with Ace-King suited as opposed to unsuited, your chances of winning the hand increase a mere 3%.

Play those suited cards, but only when the time is right. You will lose a lot of chips quickly if you decide to call every time you start with two cards of the same suit. Most winning hands are determined by ranks. A pair of aces beats a pair of anything else. A pair of Aces combined with a pair of deuces beats someone holding a pair of Kings & Queens. That's why you see a lot of players play with their aces very aggressively. The average winning pot is someone holding two pair, not by someone holding all suited cards.

Play creatively, but minimally, with your suited connectors.