Suited Connectors: How Often They Hit and When to Play Them
A suited connector is two cards of adjacent rank in one suit, like 87s. There are 13 of them counting A2s, 3.9% of the hands you are dealt, about 1 in 25.5. The middle ones, JTs down to 54s, flop a pair or better 34.56% of the time, a flush draw 10.94% and an open-ended straight draw 9.71%, and nothing at all 37.63%. They are worth playing when the call is cheap and the stacks are deep: 87s has 47.94% against one random hand but only 22.46% against AA, so it makes its money from the two pair, straights and flushes it flops, not from starting ahead.
What counts as a suited connector
Two cards of adjacent rank in the same suit. With the ace counted high and low there are 13 of them: AKs, KQs, QJs, JTs, T9s, 98s, 87s, 76s, 65s, 54s, 43s and 32s, plus A2s. Each comes in four suits, so that is 52 of the 1,326 two-card hands you can be dealt, 3.9%, or about one deal in 25.5. They are not equal as connectors. AKs and A2s can make one straight each, KQs and 32s two, QJs and 43s three, and JTs down to 54s four: four is the most any two cards can make, so the middle of the run, JTs down to 54s, is where most of this page looks.
How often suited connectors hit the flop
Every one of the 19,600 possible flops was counted for each hand with the site's own hand evaluator. JTs down to 54s hit at identical rates apart from top pair (next table), because each can make four straights and each has the same flush odds. Beside them are the offsuit versions of the same hands. The suit turns 6.51% of all flops from nothing into a flush draw or a flush, and the best flops give you a flush draw and a straight draw at once, a combo draw.
| Flop | JTs to 54s | JTo to 54o |
|---|---|---|
| A pair or better | 34.56% | 33.73% |
| Two pair or better | 5.60% | 4.78% |
| Straight | 1.31% | 1.31% |
| Flush | 0.84% | 0% |
| Flush draw | 10.94% | 0% |
| Open-ended straight draw | 9.71% | 9.71% |
| Gutshot straight draw | 16.82% | 16.82% |
| Nothing: no pair, no draw | 37.63% | 44.14% |
"A pair or better" counts the flops that make a straight or a flush, and "two pair or better" counts trips, straights and flushes too. A straight draw is one that is not a straight yet: an open-ender (or a double gutshot) has eight outs, a gutshot four. "Nothing" means no pair, no flush draw, no straight draw and no made hand. A flush draw here means two more of your suit with both your cards; an offsuit hand can only draw with one card, and this count leaves those out.
Top pair falls with every step down
Pairing one of your cards is not the same as making top pair. JTs flops top pair or better 20.78% of the time and 54s 6.45%, because a flop is far more likely to hold a card above a five than a card above a jack. So when a low connector pairs, it is usually not top pair, and it needs two pair, a straight or a flush to be strong. Here is every suited connector:
| Hand | Pair or better | Top pair or better | Straight | Open-ender | Gutshot | Nothing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AKs | 33.59% | 33.59% | 0.33% | 0% | 11.35% | 48.84% |
| KQs | 33.91% | 28.83% | 0.65% | 3.02% | 12.73% | 45.65% |
| QJs | 34.23% | 24.56% | 0.98% | 6.37% | 14.78% | 41.64% |
| JTs | 34.56% | 20.78% | 1.31% | 9.71% | 16.82% | 37.63% |
| T9s | 34.56% | 17.17% | 1.31% | 9.71% | 16.82% | 37.63% |
| 98s | 34.56% | 14.05% | 1.31% | 9.71% | 16.82% | 37.63% |
| 87s | 34.56% | 11.41% | 1.31% | 9.71% | 16.82% | 37.63% |
| 76s | 34.56% | 9.27% | 1.31% | 9.71% | 16.82% | 37.63% |
| 65s | 34.56% | 7.62% | 1.31% | 9.71% | 16.82% | 37.63% |
| 54s | 34.56% | 6.45% | 1.31% | 9.71% | 16.82% | 37.63% |
| 43s | 34.23% | 5.46% | 0.98% | 6.37% | 14.78% | 41.64% |
| 32s | 33.91% | 4.95% | 0.65% | 3.02% | 12.73% | 45.65% |
| A2s | 33.59% | 19.11% | 0.33% | 0% | 11.35% | 48.84% |
Top pair or better counts any flop where one of your cards pairs the highest board card, plus two pair, trips, straights and flushes. Each hand links to its own page.
By the river: what the suit is worth
If you see all five board cards, two suited cards make a flush 6.40% of the time; the flush odds article shows the count. In equity the suit is worth a few points: 87s has 47.94% against one random hand and 87o 45.05%. It is worth more as players join, because one pair wins less often against a crowd and flushes keep winning. Against five random hands 87s has 19.0% and 87o 15.3%. The suit adds 2.89 points heads-up, 6% more equity, and 3.7 points against five, 24% more.
Equity against one, three and five players
Every suited connector from 87s down is an underdog to a single random hand. What these hands keep is equity against a crowd. T9s is an example: heads-up it has 54.03% to JTo's 55.25%, but against five random hands it has 22.4% to 21.5%. Against one hand the figures are exact, to two decimals; against three and five they are simulated, to one:
| Hand | vs 1 | vs 3 | vs 5 | Offsuit vs 1 | Offsuit vs 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AKs | 67.04% | 41.4% | 31.1% | 65.32% | 27.9% |
| KQs | 63.40% | 38.2% | 28.3% | 61.46% | 25.0% |
| QJs | 60.26% | 35.7% | 26.2% | 58.13% | 22.9% |
| JTs | 57.53% | 33.9% | 24.9% | 55.25% | 21.5% |
| T9s | 54.03% | 30.9% | 22.4% | 51.53% | 18.9% |
| 98s | 50.80% | 28.5% | 20.3% | 48.10% | 16.6% |
| 87s | 47.94% | 26.6% | 19.0% | 45.05% | 15.3% |
| 76s | 45.37% | 25.1% | 17.9% | 42.32% | 14.1% |
| 65s | 43.13% | 23.7% | 17.0% | 39.94% | 13.3% |
| 54s | 41.45% | 22.7% | 16.5% | 38.16% | 12.6% |
| 43s | 38.64% | 20.4% | 14.7% | 35.15% | 10.8% |
| 32s | 35.98% | 18.2% | 13.1% | 32.30% | 9.0% |
| A2s | 57.38% | 29.4% | 20.6% | 54.93% | 16.3% |
Equity is the share of the pot a hand wins on average when every player sees all five board cards; a tie splits it. Against one hand every opponent hand and every board is counted, 2,097,572,400 deals for each hand. Against three and five each figure is 50,000,000 simulated deals, with a standard error under 0.01 points. The offsuit columns are the same two ranks unsuited: 87o for 87s.
Suited connectors against an overpair
All in before the flop against AA, KK, QQ or JJ, a suited connector below a jack gets between 16.99% (32s against AA) and 22.52% (54s against KK) of the pot: at best about one pot in 4.4, a 3.4-to-1 underdog. Two things move the number. A pair just above your cards holds cards your straights need: T9s has 22.20% against AA but 18.30% against JJ, because three of its four straights need a jack and JJ holds two of the four jacks. And a pair of aces holds two of the four aces, so only two are left for the wheel, the one straight of its four that needs an ace: 54s has 21.09% against AA and 22.52% against KK.
| Hand | vs AA | vs KK | vs QQ | vs JJ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| T9s | 22.20% | 21.09% | 19.71% | 18.30% |
| 98s | 22.06% | 21.75% | 21.01% | 19.69% |
| 87s | 22.46% | 22.07% | 21.74% | 21.01% |
| 76s | 22.47% | 22.47% | 22.06% | 21.75% |
| 65s | 22.50% | 22.49% | 22.49% | 22.09% |
| 54s | 21.09% | 22.52% | 22.51% | 22.52% |
| 43s | 19.04% | 20.46% | 20.46% | 20.47% |
| 32s | 16.99% | 18.41% | 18.41% | 18.41% |
Each matchup's card combinations are grouped by suit, and every one of the 1,712,304 possible boards is dealt for each group; ties split the pot. So a suited connector all in against a big pair is at best about 3.4 to 1 against. It makes its money before that point: seeing flops cheaply with deep stacks behind, and winning a big pot the times it flops two pair, a straight or a flush against the pair.
Are suited connectors worth playing? Start with the price
Folded to you in the big blind against a 2.5x open, there is 4bb in the middle and you put in 1.5bb more, so the call needs 27.3% equity to break even if the hand were checked down from there: the pot odds. Against a small blind open there is no dead small blind, only 3.5bb in the middle, and the same call needs 30.0%. Here is what each connector has against the opening ranges in the site's range library, the ranges the preflop charts show:
| Hand | vs UTG | vs MP | vs CO | vs BTN | vs SB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JTs | 40.8% | 39.5% | 40.5% | 44.6% | 42.3% |
| T9s | 39.0% | 38.6% | 39.4% | 41.3% | 40.3% |
| 98s | 37.3% | 38.1% | 38.7% | 40.0% | 39.5% |
| 87s | 36.3% | 37.2% | 38.0% | 39.6% | 39.1% |
| 76s | 35.2% | 36.1% | 37.7% | 39.1% | 38.4% |
| 65s | 33.8% | 35.2% | 37.4% | 38.6% | 37.7% |
| 54s | 32.4% | 34.3% | 36.7% | 38.1% | 36.9% |
| 43s | 29.1% | 31.4% | 34.3% | 35.9% | 34.9% |
| 32s | 26.1% | 28.8% | 32.1% | 33.8% | 33.1% |
Each figure is the hand's equity against every combination in the opening range, card removal included, from a simulation of 60,000 deals for each pair of hand classes; no figure's standard error is above 0.12 points. Every cell clears its price (27.3%, or 30.0% against the small blind) except 32s against an under-the-gun open (26.1%). That equity assumes all five cards come with no more betting. Out of position the big blind does not get all of it: it folds some flops where it still had a chance and gets bet off some of its draws, so clearing the price on paper is where the case for a call starts, not where it ends.
What a call has to win after the flop
Take the strict case. You go on only when you flop two pair or better, which JTs down to 54s do 5.60% of the time, and you win the pot every time you do. Then you miss 16.9 times for every hit, so on a 1.5bb call each hit has to win you 25.3bb on average: the 4bb already in the pot and 21.3bb more from the opener. That is what implied odds means for these hands, and it is why they want deep stacks: an opener with less than 21.3bb behind cannot pay it however well you hit. A pocket pair flops a set or better 11.76% of the time, 2.1 times as often, which is one reason a small pair needs less behind to call a raise. Flush draws (10.94%) and open-enders (9.71%) win pots on top of the strict case and bring that figure down. They are also how a connector loses a big pot, with the smaller flush or the low end of a straight. The pot odds calculator prices any of these calls.
Playing suited connectors after the flop
Start with the misses: 37.63% of the time a middle connector flops no pair and no draw, and unless a bluff is cheap the hand is over. When the flop does hit, what it gave you decides how hard to play. Two pair or better is the hand you called for, so build the pot with it. One pair from a low connector is usually not top pair (see the tables above), which makes it a hand for keeping the pot small, not for building it. A draw is worth what its outs are worth, and with every out live they come in this often:
| Draw | Outs | On the turn | By the river |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gutshot | 4 | 8.51% | 16.47% |
| Open-ended straight draw | 8 | 17.02% | 31.45% |
| Flush draw | 9 | 19.15% | 34.97% |
| Flush draw and open-ender | 15 | 31.91% | 54.12% |
"By the river" means seeing both the turn and the river. With 15 outs a combo draw is a favourite to get there, which is why it can bet or raise as a semi-bluff and get the money in on the flop. A gutshot gets there 16.47% of the time and needs a good price or fold equity. An out that also gives someone a better hand, a bigger flush or a higher straight, is not clean, so treat these as the most a draw can be worth. The rule of 2 and 4 estimates the same numbers at the table.
What the site's charts do with suited connectors
Two charts on this site treat these hands differently, so it matters which one you are reading.
- •The preflop charts and the range library take each seat's opening range as the top slice of one strength ranking of all 169 hands. Under the gun the only suited connectors they open are AKs and KQs. Apart from A2s, their opening ranges hold no suited connector below T9s from any seat, and their big blind defence against a button open goes down to 98s.
- •The TAG cheat sheet is a hand-picked starter chart. It raises suited connectors down to 87s on the button and calls down to 76s in the big blind.
- •Neither is a rule for every game. The prices, hit rates and implied odds above hold whichever chart you follow; the range calculator runs any of these hands against any range, and the range explorer shows how often a whole range hits a given flop.
Suited connectors with a short stack
Short stacked, the decision becomes all in or fold. The push/fold chart has the heads-up solution, the small blind shoving into the big blind, at every stack from 1 to 30 big blinds: 76s and every suited connector above it shove at every one of those depths, and so does A2s. The rest shove at fewer:
- •65s shoves at 1 to 27 and 29bb.
- •54s shoves at 1 to 23bb.
- •43s shoves at 1, 2, 5 to 7 and 10bb.
- •32s shoves at 1bb.
- •A hand at the edge of a solved range is close to break-even either way, which is why 65s and 43s come and go between depths.
Related tools
Frequently asked
How many suited connectors are there?
13 hand classes if the ace counts high and low: AKs, KQs, QJs, JTs, T9s, 98s, 87s, 76s, 65s, 54s, 43s and 32s, plus A2s. Each comes in four suits, so there are 52 combinations, 3.9% of all 1,326 starting hands, or about 1 in 25.5.
How often do suited connectors hit the flop?
JTs down to 54s flop a pair or better 34.56% of the time, two pair or better 5.60%, a flush draw 10.94%, an open-ended straight draw 9.71% and a gutshot 16.82%. They flop nothing at all 37.63% of the time. Every one of the 19,600 possible flops was counted.
How often do suited connectors make a flush?
On the flop, a flush 0.84% of the time and a flush draw 10.94%. By the river, if you see all five board cards, 6.40%.
Is a suited one-gapper a suited connector?
No. A connector has adjacent ranks. A hand with one rank between its cards, such as 97s, is a one-gapper. It can make three straights to a middle connector's four, so it flops a straight 0.98% of the time against 1.31% for 87s.
Are suited connectors better than pocket pairs?
They do different jobs. A pocket pair flops a set or better 11.76% of the time; JTs down to 54s flop two pair or better 5.60%. Heads-up a pair also has more equity: even 22 has 50.33% against one random hand, to 41.45% for 54s. Against five random hands the order turns over, 54s 16.5% to 22's 15.5%, because one small pair rarely holds up against a crowd and straights and flushes do. Connectors also flop draws: a flush draw on 10.94% of flops, which a pocket pair, always two suits, can never flop with both cards.
What is the best suited connector?
AKs, if you count it: 67.04% against one random hand. Of the connectors that can make four straights, JTs: 57.53% against one hand, and top pair or better on 20.78% of flops, the most of that group.
When should you play suited connectors?
When the call is cheap and the stacks behind are deep. Calling a 2.5x open from the big blind costs 1.5bb, and a connector that goes on only with two pair or better has to win 25.3bb each time it hits: the 4bb in the pot and 21.3bb more from the opener. So they want opponents with chips behind, and they lose value when stacks are short or when a re-raise makes the call bigger.
How do you play low suited connectors?
With more care than the middle ones. 54s flops top pair or better only 6.45% of the time and 32s 4.95%, so when they pair it is rarely the best pair on the board. 43s and 32s make three and two straights instead of four, and the straights they do make are often the low end. At 100bb neither of the site's charts plays a suited connector below 76s from any seat; short stacked, the push/fold chart shoves some of them.
Should you play suited connectors in tournaments?
With a deep stack they play much as in a cash game. Short, they become all-in-or-fold hands: in the site's heads-up push/fold chart the small blind shoves 76s and every suited connector above it at every stack from 1 to 30 big blinds, while 65s, 54s, 43s and 32s shove at fewer depths. All in against AA, KK, QQ or JJ, though, no suited connector below a jack has more than 22.52%.
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