Poker legend Doyle Brunson, winner of two consecutive World Series of Poker main events and author of the seminal poker book Super/System, made small suited connectors famous. Suited connectors are consecutive cards of the same suit, such as Jd Td or 9c 8c. A small-suited connector hand would be one like 4h 5h or 5s 6s. Doyle and many other players like these kinds of hands because when they flop strongly, that strength is well disguised, and when they do not, the hand can be abandoned relatively cheaply. This can be extremely important in middle stakes no limit holdem game when the right flop can win you a few hundred or even a few thousand dollars on the spot from opponents who overplay their big cards. Here are a few things to remember about suited connectors.

Their Value Comes From Flopping Big Hands or Big Draws

The whole point of playing these hands is you should not become overly committed to them the way you might with a hand like AJ or KQ, for example. If you have 7d 8d and the flop comes Ad 8c 7s, you're going to want to be ready to move some chips into the pot. If the flop comes 6s 9d Kd, you're looking to mix it up. If the flop comes Ad Kc 7s, you've got to be able to dump the hand fast. If you're going to be calling multiple bets hoping to catch a miracle backdoor straight or flush, or if you're going to try to bully off players who have shown pre-flop strength every time you miss the flop, you're going to go broke after just a few poker games.

Maximize Your Suited Connectors Power

If you flop a big draw with your suited connectors and the size of the pot and tenor of the players merits it, you may want to move all-in on a semi-bluff. This gives you multiple ways to win the pot. You have what is called "fold equity", the likelihood that your opponents will allow you to take the pot down uncontested, as well as the equity from the various outs that are likely to give you the winning hand. If the pot is small and moving in would merit a severe overbet, you may prefer to make a small bet and try to build a pot in case you hit your hand, or go for a check-raise.

Don't Play in a Vacuum

Even if you hit your suited connector hand, you may be beat, and the best players manage to avoid going broke when this happens. If you're playing small suited connectors like 6s 7s and the spade flush comes, there is a very real possibility someone has a higher flush. If someone shows great strength, be careful. Td 9d on a flop of Ac Tc 9s may run into an AT. You should not be paralyzed by these possibilities into playing the hand passively, but you must be aware of what is going around you if you are to avoid going broke in your middle stakes no limit Texas holdem game.