I suppose you all know the value of suited connectors in deep-stacked cash games (BTW, if you’re playing in a cash game, you should always play deep stacked). They are excellent implied odds hands because they carry the possibility for a straight as well as for a flush. Now then, being the cash game player that you are, you know that your suited connectors are going to miss both the straight and the flush the overwhelming majority of the time, but you also know that whenever you hit one of those hands, you’re going to take down a huge pot and you’ll probably felt an opponent or two. If you have a healthy stack, making money on such nice implied odds hands should be a cinch.

Tournament play can sometimes be quite radically different from cash game play though. While most players acknowledge these differences, only the best of them actually take them into account when it comes to tournament strategy. That’s exactly why you’ll have a bunch of people playing their suited connectors the same way in a STT as they do in a cash game. If you’re one of these folks you may want to know that there’s a gaping hole in your strategy and you may want to plug it up as fast as possible.

You simply cannot play suited connectors the same way in tournaments and in cash games and here’s why: suited connectors as well as suited one-gappers and small pocket pairs (all excellent implied odds hands) lose a lot of value in STTs (and in MTTs as well).

First of all, as I’ve pointed it out above, playing suited connectors for their implied odds value only makes sense in deep-stacked situations. Now then, have you ever been in a STT which gave you a deep stack to begin with? Even if you manage to knock a few players out early on, the escalating blinds soon catch up with you and your “deep stack” evaporates before your very eyes. There is no such thing as being deep-stacked in a STT, so your suited connectors are no good here, at least not in the conventional way.

Should you then muck your suited connectors whenever you pick them up in your pocket? By no means. Suited connectors are playable in tourneys too, it’s just that you have to know when they have no value and when you can actually squeeze some juice out of them. Don’t limp along to see the flop on them, especially when you’re faced with aggressive opposition and a preflop raise is always in the book. Don’t call big bets after the flop, based on your weak gutshot straight draw. If you play like this, you’ll bleed your chips away much faster than you’d like to.

Pick the spot for your suited connector carefully. Position has a great deal of importance in determining their value. If you’re in late position you can limp along to see a cheap flop on them, or you can even attempt a blinds steal if the circumstances are right.

Your suited connectors (as well as your suited one gappers) are the most valuable in the early stages of an STT. That’s when you’re the deepest stacked all tourney long. Play your suited connectors from late position and limp into multi-way pots that remain unraised before the flop. Early position limping is a big no-no and it will cost you a lot if you decide to go down that road.

If you hit your hand or a draw which carries reasonable odds, act on it, if you miss your hand, just fold it right there.

In the mid-stages of the STT, your suited connectors lose further value. Limping on them becomes unprofitable and the only time you should take them to a flop is behind several other limpers from the button. By this stage though, suited connectors slowly emerge as a blinds-stealing hands.

As the blinds reach the higher levels, you should definitely use your suited connectors for stealing blinds, again – if possible from late position.

Sign up for rakeback before hitting the STT tables. You may not generate poker rake on each hand you play there, but you do pay tournament fees, and rakeback deals offer you a great rebate on them.