Small connectors are tough hands to play at the best of times, but in regards to poker tournament strategy I feel it is ultra important to keep your costs to a minimum (as in late position, multi-way pot) while simultaneously surveying the size of the stacks of those limpers and their propensity for huge errors. If both of these factors are present, then make the call if you are Green, Yellow or Orange MZone.

I've just read an article in Bluff Europe by Mike Caro and it makes alot of sense. Its regarding small SC. He basically states that small Sc's are unprofitable in NLTH. Now from reading the forum alot and speaking to many people in live games nearly everyone I have spoken to loves playing sc's including me.

His basic premis is this. To make a profit with these hands you need to be facing a feild of opponents that is basically nonaggression, because you need to see a flop cheaply and be able to afford the price of the turn and river betting when you don't hit completely.

He goes onto state that even when you do hit the miracle flop of a made straight or flush you have the possibility of being up against a bigger hand and if that is not the case then the likelihood of you making any money from over cards is quite small. If you are up against a bigger hand then the likelihood of losing a lot of money is large. See "reversed implied odds".

Now from what I've read of the article I'm thinking of changing the way I play the small SC's. At the moment I quite happily play them even when the pot has been raised and there are no other opponents in the pot. I think from now on I'll be playing small SC in position with multiple limpers and not calling any raises.

89s or over I'll probably play the same as I have been. Hitting a straight with hands of this size normall mean that high cars have connected too and make this more profitable.

This won't stop me from raising with these types of hand, but I'll have to reevaluate the way I play them to aggression.

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I have been stacked in cash games in the last weeks or so with the exact hands of 64s and 35s.

With 64s, I flopped two pair after calling a raise from the BB. Flop is 647, I check, I re-raise his Cbet , he over shoves screaming over-pair or flush draw (the board had t hearts)

The turn is a heart and that is a buy in gone. BUT I was 64% to win, so I think that is a great investment. The 35s, I raise with from UTG (6max)

I play down to the river, Ace and king on board, must have been A25K4, I bet the river, he over-shoves, I snap call, he has 36s!!!!!!!

Oh another one, 56s , I opened with, long story short, 97 hits a straight vs my two pair, drawing to 4 outs and one card, bad investment. I think he might be taking a very extreme side to the case though, I do believe they have there place.

Obviously creating an image where you raise AA the same way you raise 57s UTG has to be be profitable, both with implied odds, and AA getting extra value.
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This is a point in case. You are calling with 46 to hit that flop about 1.5%. When you do hit the chance of stacking your opponent it very small. So overall its probably -EV to call here to a raise. In position it may be more profitable, but only if you have other players in the pot to.

Raising with this type of hand obviously has its benefits. You take down pots uncontested and when an ace hits the flop you can represent it and take down the pot, thus adding to the EV.

I made a post in the MTT T&D thread I while ago that I have stopped cold calling raises with hands like this. I will call if there are 1 or 2 other callers AND I have position. I need exceptional odds to call them in the SB but will still call in the BB with 1 other caller.

I still believe that they mostly win big pots and lose small ones, although occasionally they will lose big ones as well. When I get a chance I will run some numbers off my HM data base and post them here.

I am pretty sure with a SC 54s-JTs you are 20-1 to hit 2 pair or better on the flop. So that would make it about 5% for 2 pair or better, maybe the 1.5% is for trips, I am not sure.

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It was a marginal call I agree, and I have been changing my cold call parameters for SC's as well, I played about 1000 hands just playing them lots and lots, having 2+ in a raised pot with position is my new rule, plus out of the BB with lots of callers.

I'm gald to hear you guys agree. It looks like I've found a big leak in my cash game, which I've been concentrating on lately. I've been calling with SC al ot out-of-position and with only 1 other person in the pot. Time to stop by the looks of it.

Yeah I tend to stay away from small SCs unless the stacks are really deep. They're definitely more the kind of hands that you'd look to play in a cash game rather than an MTT.