How people play suited connectors or small gap suited connectors

After playing Hold Em on a regular basis for over 5 years now, it seems as though the game strategy with suited connectors has drastically changed (suited 7/8, 5/7, 3/5, etc.)  As Harrington stated in his book, you want to see flops cheaply with these hands, and fold these in early position because you don't want to donate chips if someone raises behind you. 

 

But nowadays, people seem to play these in early position and call 4 or 5 times the BB raises with them.  If they hit, they are well disguised hands, but it seems as though the risk is greater than the reward.  One concern is that if you hit your flush, someone could have a higher flush, or someone could flop a higher 2-pair or a set to cripple you. 

 

And it seems as though Gus Hansen was 1 of the 1st TV exposed people to aggressively play these hands out of position.  And also, the kids in poker today (20-25 year old college student types) seem to have no fear of paying big to see flops with these hands, and have little fear of going broke.  Whereas older players like me (over 40) seem to be more conservative/aggressive but have trouble winning the big 1 (but place ITM at a decent rate to maintain).  Am I not playing these suited connectors enough, or does it just seem like they show the big pots being won on TV with these overplayed hands?  

 

Any comments and feedback appreciated.

Suited connectors and gappers are tricky hands to play.  My basic rules with them are...

 

1)  play them in position in a multiway pot, giving you a better situation to draw out. 

 

2) only call a raise with them if it's against a weak player that you can steal a pot from. 

 

3) stealing blinds. 

 

I'm not going to call a raise against a player that will make a big c-bet on the flop or not let go if raised.  If a tight player raises then you know there range a little better so if I have 87 suited and they raise with AJ-AK,AA,QQ,JJ and the flop comes something like 982  I'll probably play it very aggressive.   If they re-raise back then I'll fold, they probably are on an over pair. 

 

In short suited connectors and gappers after a raised pot are more about outplaying than hitting a hand. 

 

a hand like 86 suited against AJ-AK has about a 41% chance of winning. 

Agree with you Wizard.

 

I feel like the proliferation of pros playing them on TV (e.g. Negreanu on High Stakes Poker, Hansen anwhere else), plus Brunson's endorsement of them in his books, have made the young guns play them well past their intended purpose.  They are way overplayed in my opinion.

 

i love when i have suited connectors in an unopened pot and i raise raise raise   lol    

i always flop 2 pair and get killed with these hands

I dont play them that much unless I can limp. Really depends on the table as Sharkey said. If its a tight table, maybe you can make things happen. An agressive table, pick your spots. I honestly dont play them all that much unless I can limp or call small raises in position.

these tourneys on TV like the WPT are short handed, like 6 players or less, so Gus Hansen playing these hands would be different than you playing them on a full table no limit table. I think these hands are good in limit games vs an action table, because if you have 6 or more callers before the flop then you have more money in the pot and more possible callers, and with the limit aspect you can't necessarily go broke on the hand. If you flop a flush draw or open ended straight draw then you need more callers for your pot odds; if it hits then you want to get paid off, if it doesn't then at least you were getting the right price odds wise. If it's no limit, and you are heads up, are you going to go all in on a draw? You aren't getting the right price to make this a solid play over the long run. If you wanna gamble, that's another story. In a no limit game, you can't play these hands against a big raise or an all in, because it's going to very expensive to see the river card which you may need. In limit, if I have a 67 suited, then usually I'll call up to a capped pot to see the flop.