Suited Gappers (1) - General
 |
| » COLUMN |
Suited Gappers (1) - General
by MiiWiin
Suited gappers are starting hands which aren't directly connected and so have a bit less potential than a suited connector. Nonetheless, these too have reasonable playability and should be taken into account when selecting starting hands.
Definition
A suited gapper is not only suited, but also a high chance of a straight. This is the case with a suited connector, with a gapper, the chances are lower, as there are fewer board combinations which enable a straight.
Mathematics
54s (4 possibilities):
The suited connector has the best chance of hitting a straight (or correspondingly also a draw).
The following boards are sufficient for the suited connector:
A23xx ; 236xx ; 367xx ; 678xx
64s (3 possibilities):
235xx ; 357xx ; 578xx
74s (2 possibilities):
356xx ; 568xx
84s (1 possibility):
567xx
Thus, it's clear that the drawing hand will be significantly weaker, the bigger the gap is.
It's not necessarily the probability of hitting a straight which is crucial here, but also the playability. Often you'll want to semi-bluff this sort of hand and put the pressure on on the flop or the turn. However, for this you'll need acceptable equity and outs.
The hand 64s can have an open-ended straight draw in two cases on the turn.
This results from the possibility of 35xx and 57xx. As there are four suits of each card, thre are 32 board combinations to draw a straight and find yourself with at least 8 outs.
With a hand such as 74s, you only have 16 combinations. 84s can never get an OESD on the turn.
In comparison: due to the possibilities of 23xx, 36xx and 67xx, 54s has 48 combinations.
Ultimately, these numbers won't help you more at the table, however it's important to recognise that there are big differences between a suited connector and gappers. This is also demonstrated by the equity.
Equity - preflop
PartyPoker $25 NL Hold'em (6-handed)
Stacks & Stats
UTG ($25)
MP ($25)
CO ($25)
Hero ($25)
SB ($25)
BB ($25)
Preflop: Hero is BU with X
, X
2 folds, CO raises $0.75, Hero...?
You need to be careful with equity calculations here. It's clear that you're not in a good position against an open raising range preflop. Essentially, you're holding a drawing hand and may possibly be able to demonstrate good playability postflop, or you could semi-bluff. You'll always be well behind with a hand like this preflop.
The difference in the equity of these two hands would thus have to be quite marginal. Chances of a flush are the same, you can hit all the standard outs such as trips, top pair and two pair with every hand. Thus, the chances of a straight as analysed above are out:
| Equity analysis | |||||
| Board | |||||
| Equity | Win | Split | Loss | Hand | |
| Player 1 | 62.82% | 61.57% | 2.5% | 35.94% | 22+, A6s+, K9s+, Q9s+, J9s+, T8s+, 97s+, 86s+, 75s+, 65s, 54s, 43s, A7o+, KTo+, QTo+, JTo |
| Player 2 | 37.19% | 35.94% | 2.5% | 61.57% |   |
| Equity analysis | |||||
| Board | |||||
| Equity | Win | Split | Loss | Hand | |
| Player 1 | 64.56% | 63.6% | 1.91% | 34.49% | 22+, A6s+, K9s+, Q9s+, J9s+, T8s+, 97s+, 86s+, 75s+, 65s, 54s, 43s, A7o+, KTo+, QTo+, JTo |
| Player 2 | 35.44% | 34.47% | 1.91% | 63.6% |  |
Just over 1.5% equity difference: but don't let that fool you. What matters is what happens postflop.
Equity – postflop
PartyPoker $25 NL Hold'em (6-handed)
Stacks & Stats
UTG ($25)
MP ($25)
CO ($25)
Hero ($25)
SB ($25)
BB ($25)
Preflop: Hero is BU with
2 folds, CO raises $0.75, Hero calls $0.75, 2 folds
Flop: ($1.65) 
(2 players)
CO bets $1.20, Hero...
No matter what happens during the hand, you've hit a great flop, even though you only have 5 high on the flop to show for it.
Put simply, playability means that you have lots of options and therefore good equity on your side.
| Equity analysis | |||||
| Board | |
||||
| Equity | Win | Split | Loss | Hand | |
| Player 1 | 5199% | 51.99% | 0% | 48.01% | |
| Player 2 | 48.01% | 48.01% | 0% | 51.99% | JJ+ |
You're the favourite against overpairs and the top set. This is the big advantage of suited connectors.
Which draw can you ideally hit with 84s?
PartyPoker $25 NL Hold'em (6-handed)
Stacks & Stats
UTG ($25)
MP ($25)
CO ($25)
Hero ($25)
SB ($25)
BB ($25)
Preflop: Hero is BU with
2 folds, CO raises $0.75, Hero calls $0.75, 2 folds
Flop: ($1.65) 
(2 players)
CO bets $1.20, Hero...
| Equity analysis | |||||
| Board | |
||||
| Equity | Win | Split | Loss | Hand | |
| Player 1 | 43.58% | 43.58% | 0% | 56.42% | |
| Player 2 | 56.42% | 56.42% | 0% | 43.58% | JJ+ |
Your gutshot can't help you much either, so the best you can hit is pair+flushdraw, as at least the pair brings 5 more outs to trips or two pair.
PartyPoker $25 NL Hold'em (6-handed)
Stacks & Stats
UTG ($25)
MP ($25)
CO ($25)
Hero ($25)
SB ($25)
BB ($25)
Preflop: Hero is BU with
2 folds, CO raises $0.75, Hero calls $0.75, 2 folds
Flop: ($1.65) 
(2 players)
CO bets $1.20, Hero...
| Equity analysis | |||||
| Board | |
||||
| Equity | Win | Split | Loss | Hand | |
| Player 1 | 45.3% | 45.3% | 0% | 54.7% | |
| Player 2 | 54.7% | 54.7% | 0% | 45.3% | JJ+ |
However, you'll never be favourite with this. Think about the section 'Mathematics' above as well. The smaller the gap is, the more combinations there are for a strong draw.
This means the mantra is: 'a small gap means more options of hitting a draw at all and at the same time having significantly better equity with it postflop'.
Which hands are playable?
If you looked in the Starting Hand Chart at the start of your career, you could have a long and fruitless search for suited gappers.
You could raise suited connectors from late position, but that's it.
The reason for this is quite simple: if you justify your preflop actions with your equity, then hands like these clearly don't have a lot to show. They live from postflop playability.
At the same time you've also seen that you not only flop weaker draws with gappers, you also flop them much less frequently. You need to get your foot down postflop in order to play these hands +EV, this is the only goal in the end.
That's why you get the following problems with expanding gaps:
- Weaker draws
- Fewer 'hits'
- Less postflop playability
- None of these hands have card removal effect (that's why they're not ideal stealing hands)
- Not ideal to play against calling stations (semi-bluffs are hardly possible)
This is why you need to analyse these columns yourself and ask yourself: what you would do with hands like this postflop?
How well do you know your opponent, what can you expect on the flop or coming streets?
This question can't be answered generally, that's why the following parts will deal with possible plays with these kinds of hands, in which the advantages but also the problems will be shown again and again.
It's not mandatory to steal too often with these hands and potentially end up in -EV spots long-term.
This is why the question of which of these hands are playable should be obvious:
54s > 64s > 74s > 84s
If you expect the blinds to almost always fold to a button steal, you should raise every hand.
On the other hand, if you expect a lot of calls from passive players, you need to start quickly back-peddling, especially with hands like this. With low fold equity preflop as well as less expected fold equity postflop, the playability against this kind of opponent will hardly be enough.
54s is strong enough in most cases, however if you're expecting almost exclusively calls from the blinds, you can already start thinking about mucking 64s.
There are more details about postflop options as well as opponent observation in the following part.
| » SUMMARY |
|
It's not the preflop equity which is crucial here, this isn't particularly prominent between the different gappers. However, there's a big difference between what you could hit postflop and what options you have to continue playing the hand. You won't just flop an acceptable draw more frequently with a smaller gap, it will also generally be stronger. It's hardly possible to determine exactly where the 'EV boundry' is. It's ceratinly a very narrow margin. However, if you intend to play all suited gappers, it will certainly result in a fat -EV play, as you can hardly catch up with the combination of few hits and weak draws, you just can't semi-bluff or pure bluff often enough and successfully enough. |
| LINKS | |||
|
|||
