Most people like to play suited connectors in a multiway pot. This is maybe from reading Doyle Brunson’s books. I like to go against the grain and raise with them with the intention of getting heads up with someone. This is part of a poker strategy of mixing up my plays to confuse my opponents.

I play them like a big pair because that’s what the opponent is putting me on. It’s easy to lay it down if I get raised or check raised on the flop (because I usually have nothing). Of course a lot of times I raise, bet the flop and the opponent folds because he missed the flop. The times I hit the flop with a draw, 2 pair, or trips, it’s a gold mine.

Here’s my all time favorite scenario though:

I’m playing $2/$4 NL. I open raise to $16 with 98s. I get reraised the min to $28. This almost always means a big pair and better yet, it means if I hit the flop I’m going to bust the opponent.

So I call the $12. This is a very cheap price to pay to get a chance to take his entire chip stack. The pot is now $38 including the blinds. The flop comes 982 rainbow. I bet $20. The opponent raises to $80. I call.

The pot is now $198. I checked and he bet $100. I check raised all in to $310 and he called instantly. I have a feeling he’s somewhere out there telling his bad beat story about how his AA got cracked. If he would’ve reraised the correct amount preflop, I would’ve folded, but a min reraise is the perfect scenario.

So the moral of this story is pay attention to bet size. If you raise pre flop, do not min raise, but if you are the one getting raised, call in a deep stack situation where you may double up your stack.