Suited 1 Gappers

One thing I have seen playing different starting hands is that the suited 1 gappers are a very tricky hand that can result in alot of money to be won.




Suited one gappers are hands like 10-8 suited, 8-6 suited and so on. (I would not consider Q-10 suited or J-9 suited or K-J suited on this level because these are always played and there is not much difference in your starting hand.) I've started to like these hands more and more due to the amount of double belly busters you can hit and well as flush draws.
Heres an example hand at a free live place I play at. The play is rather weak, with almost no preflop raising by 75% of the field. The game regularly draws 70+ people. Last night we had 120 people.
One hand at the beginning table:




I'm dealt in the BB and there are 4 limpers in the hand. The flop comes . Normally I would look at this board and think, just a gutshot not worth it. But after someone bet 1/4 of the pot like they always do when they hit top pair or better I started thinking: there are about 19 cards I can hit to improve my hand on the turn:
nine diamonds
three 6's for a double belly buster
three 7's for an open ended straight draw
four jacks for the near nuts with a Q high straight.
So with 5 cards out, there are 47 cards left in the deck, 19 cards improve my hand to at least 8 total outs, some will give me 12 outs, some will give me 15 outs ( and ). Thats a 40.4% chance to give myself at least 8 outs for the river, of course 4 outs of those give me a virtual lock on the hand (the 4 jacks).
I called the smallish bet and the turn brings a . I improve to an 8 outter. I check, the post-flop better makes another small bet and I call. The river brings an ace and I miss. The winner shows for two pair.




Look at the math behind this (assume you fold if you do not improve to 8 outs):


8 outs to hit on the river when looking at the flop -
Potential turn cards: - 6/47 ~ 12.7% chance to hit an 8 outter. That 8 outter will give me a 17.3% chance to win. Multiply the two and you get 2.19% chance to hit your straight on the river




12 outs to hit on the river when looking at the flop -
Potential turn cards: - 7/47 ~ 14.9% chance to hit a 12 outter. That 12 outter will give you a 26.1% chance to win. Multiply the two and you get a 3.9% chance to win with a flush or gutshot on the river.




15 outs to hit on the river when looking at the flop -
Potential turn cards: - 2/47 ~ 4.3% chance to hit a 15 outter. That 15 outter will give you a 32.6% chance to hit an open ended straight or a flush. Multiply the two and you get 1.4% chance to hit your open ender/flush.




Hit the straight on the turn -
Potential turn cards: ~ 8.5% chance to hit your straight on the turn.



Therefore you have a ~ 1:6 (16%) chance to hit a straight or a flush on the hand when you come across this situation on the flop (a gutshot with 1 card to your flush).
Let's weigh the odds when you hit the turn after you call the flop.

Given: You call the flop bet and hit the turn.
4/19 (~21%) chance you hit a Jack. Your hand is made and you can try to extract chips.
2/19 (~11%) chance you hit a 15 outter. You should play with odds or make a strong semi-bluff.
7/19 (~37%) chance you hit a 12 outter. Play with the odds, if you sense weakness make a semi-bluff.
6/19 (~32%) chance to hit an 8 outter. Play with the odds.

This means you have on average a 10.8 outter if you hit your turn card and 21% of the time you do not need another card to win.

Remember: For all of these you will have incredible implied odds, they will not put you on a backdoor flush draw or a gutshot, as well as an open ender on the turn. Therefore you do not need the exact odds to hit your hand, if you think the player is willing to go all the way with his hand, this can be an incredible money maker when you hit.



I believe this is the value behind the suited 1 gap hands. If you hit your money card (the card between your two cards i.e. you hold 75 and hit the 6) and a card to give you a gutshot as well as 1 card to your flush, you aren't in bad shape. You have a potential monster if the right card hits the turn (at a 40% chance, its not unreasonable to think this way). This post doesn't even mention a flush draw/open ender on the flop or even two pair or trips that you could hit anyway. My point is these hands can hit a flop hard. You can flop an 8 outter, a 9 outter, a 12 outter, a 15 outter, a made hand that is a monster, or what is described above (a 1:5 shot of making a concealed monster). You don't even need pot odds if you have a suited 7-5 and the players are all playing high cards on a flop of 629 with one card of your suit. You can win the pot outright on the flop/turn. If you have someone challenging you, you can bait him when you hit. No one puts you on a gutshot draw or a backdoor flush draw or a backdoor open ended straight draw.



Remember: these numbers are just guidelines, certain cards you need may hit other people, so on the example above, the gives the opponent a full house and you are drawing dead to a for a straight flush. Remember the hands people always play, like J-10 and such and remember they're on draws too.



Use this at discretion, but I believe these hands have more value than people think in the right situation. The tournament situation is a deeper stacked style of play (or if your chip leader when the blinds aren't killing you) or if you have position and people aren't showing much strength. The ring game would be more likely with position with only one smaller raise in front of you preflop.

With these hands you are not looking to hit pairs on the flop (unless you think its good - but more often than not its not). You are looking to make straights and flushes. With a hand like 7-5 suited there are an incredible amounts of straights you can make (a 5,7,8,9,10,J high straight as opposed to KJ which can make a J,K,A high straight).

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Psychic spies from China

It's hands like these that I often either bust of double up on...not because I'm holding the hand, but because some donkey is severely overplaying their runner-runner draw with an inside straight draw

__________________
1st place, March/April 2008 Sunday League

Intelligence, lack thereof: Causing insanity to those with.

I like to play the 1 gappers soley on the fact that I seem to get more open-enders than gut shots after the flop. Seems easier to fill that one gap then something like J-7, 10-7, or 6-3.

Truthful I like them suited or unsuited 1 gappers and even 2 hole gappers
(4,7) believe it or not if you can get cheap enough into a pot and they hit, wow nice results.

You got to watch out for higher draws thou. But the suited give the bonus of flushes which beats straights. Which by the way is what I am looking for. But with all hands you better not get married to them. You got to know how to fold. Which should be an other thread. What, how and when to fold.

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http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/d...arfromTess.gif
COW344

Likewise, you need to look out for higher flushes. Hard to believe, but that 7-hi flush is amazingly beaten by a number of hands

__________________
1st place, March/April 2008 Sunday League

Intelligence, lack thereof: Causing insanity to those with.

I used to play them quite often for cheap, but they never hit so I rarely bother playing them unless then are suited. J9 and Q10 but nothing lower. Only time anything lower has hit is when I'm fortunate enough to see the flop from the BB in an unraised pot and they flop the straight or get a free turn or river card and hit it.

My main problem with them is that they need to hit the flop otherwise it's too much of a gamble to draw with them if you are bet into.

__________________
3rd Pitbull league June 2007
2nd Pitbull league July 2007

And like I recently remarked of other crap hands, people drip on about "when you hit your cards" and totally fail to say anything about the fortune it costs you when you find you are still losing.

Rule #1, optimism leads to long term losses, so don't play crap hands.

Rule #2, ignore Rule #1 and play them (down to say 64 suited in late pos) when you have a good reason other than optimism.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't AK a crappy hand if you miss the board? If you have deep enough stacks and you can outplay people after the flop, why exactly shouldn't you see a flop in position with 7-5 suited? I love peoples arguments for playing strictly high cards. Explain to me why QJ off is better that 7-5 suited at a full table. WIth 7-5 suited you know where your at, but the hands people put you on are very far off, which leads to great, great implied odds. Did you know if you hold 7s 5s suited vs. Ad Jd suited on a flop of As 9s 7d, you are a 51% favorite to win by the river?

Tell me why its dumb to think this way and I'll respect that point of view.

I'm not telling peopleto call large raises with these, I'm telling them to see flops early when the blinds are small and you only sacrifice 1/20th of your stack to see a flop (when you are getting 1:4 (or so) to call pre) with what is a dangerous hand contrary to your belief.

Heres a hand where I flopped 14 outs. Tell me it was dumb to call preflop when I can hit a board like that. Not to mention if the flop hits with cards only in my neighborhood and not high cards. Playing like this can cost you money, but if you're playing to win, what hands do you want? Big ones with lots of chips. With these hands, as I've seen, if you hit your hand (more than 12 outs or a made hand) you are extremely likely to double up. Why would you fold when you can flop a monster, which is not that rare.

It is
11% to flop a flush draw
32% of flopping a pair
2% of flopping two pair
40% of flopping two cards in a sequence (for gutshots and such)
1.35% of flopping trips
24% chance of hitting your money card on the flop (the card to fill your gap)
Note I did not even include the odds of flopping a double belly buster or an open ended straight draw, as I could not find them on any sites.

Now if you hit any two of those (say a flush draw and a gutshot) you have alot of outs, now if you hold 75suited on a board of 4 3 10 with two of your suit vs. AK off, you have 18 outs.

Tell me why is dumb to think like that.


BTW, I don't think conventionally about hold'em which is "I need high cards and middle pocket pairs or better to play, regardless of position." I will call a standard raise on the button with 8-6 suited, but not A-8 suited because I will be dominated most of the time. I always put my self in worst case scenario, and if I dont have enough outs I get out.


Full Tilt Poker Game #4641967356: $8 + $0.80 Sit & Go (35145207), Table 11 - 25/50 - No Limit Hold'em - 13:27:20 ET - 2007/12/27
Seat 1: CLC66 (1,500)
Seat 2: LOLRIVERDONKEY (5)
Seat 3: DoWncall (2,390)
Seat 4: PeppersChili (1,395)
Seat 5: bourke1 (2,075)
Seat 6: bulletsNBoys (3,860)
Seat 7: alex-p-68 (4,140)
Seat 8: TheAce420 (2,050)
Seat 9: FATguyATEurKIDS (2,075)
PeppersChili posts the small blind of 25
bourke1 posts the big blind of 50
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to PeppersChili [ ]
bulletsNBoys folds
alex-p-68 folds
TheAce420 raises to 175
FATguyATEurKIDS folds
CLC66 calls 175
LOLRIVERDONKEY folds
DoWncall folds
PeppersChili has 15 seconds left to act
PeppersChili calls 150 <==== I'm getting about 1:3 to call I would say I hit a flop hard 1/3 times (not even mentioning the implied odds on this, similar to small pocket pairs)
bourke1 calls 125
*** FLOP *** [ ]
PeppersChili checks
bourke1 checks
TheAce420 checks
CLC66 bets 700
PeppersChili calls 700
bourke1 folds
TheAce420 folds
*** TURN *** [As 7d 9s] [7h]
PeppersChili bets 520, and is all in
CLC66 calls 520
PeppersChili shows [5s 7s]
CLC66 shows [Jd Ad]
*** RIVER *** [As 7d 9s 7h] [Ts]
PeppersChili shows a flush, Ace high
CLC66 shows two pair, Aces and Sevens
PeppersChili wins the pot (3,140) with a flush, Ace high
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3,140 | Rake 0
Board: [As 7d 9s 7h Ts]
Seat 1: CLC66 showed [Jd Ad] and lost with two pair, Aces and Sevens
Seat 2: LOLRIVERDONKEY didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: DoWncall (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: PeppersChili (small blind) showed [5s 7s] and won (3,140) with a flush, Ace high
Seat 5: bourke1 (big blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 6: bulletsNBoys didn't bet (folded)
Seat 7: alex-p-68 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 8: TheAce420 folded on the Flop
Seat 9: FATguyATEurKIDS didn't bet (folded)



Full Tilt Poker Game #4555490490: Table Laurel Ridge - $1/$2 - No Limit Hold'em - 15:25:52 ET - 2007/12/19
Seat 1: Kungen18 ($219.60)
Seat 2: 0_Drunkenboxer ($200)
Seat 3: Masterplan666 ($214.15)
Seat 4: NoTurns ($282.55)
Seat 5: PeppersChili ($192.05)
Seat 6: grapejuice808 ($96.95)
Seat 8: jdm_wrx ($121.90)
Seat 9: bravepeety ($198)
NoTurns posts the small blind of $1
PeppersChili posts the big blind of $2
5 seconds left to act
0_Drunkenboxer posts $2
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to PeppersChili [4c 2c]
grapejuice808 folds
jdm_wrx folds
bravepeety calls $2
Kungen18 calls $2
0_Drunkenboxer raises to $12
Masterplan666 folds
TeriG sits down
TeriG adds $200
NoTurns folds
TeriG is feeling confused
PeppersChili calls $10
bravepeety folds
Kungen18 folds
*** FLOP *** [Ac 3s Kc]
PeppersChili checks
0_Drunkenboxer bets $20
PeppersChili calls $20
*** TURN *** [Ac 3s Kc] [5s]
PeppersChili checks
0_Drunkenboxer has 15 seconds left to act
0_Drunkenboxer bets $35
PeppersChili calls $35
*** RIVER *** [Ac 3s Kc 5s] [6h]
PeppersChili has 15 seconds left to act
PeppersChili bets $90
0_Drunkenboxer has 15 seconds left to act
0_Drunkenboxer has requested TIME
0_Drunkenboxer raises to $133, and is all in
PeppersChili calls $35.05, and is all in
Uncalled bet of $7.95 returned to 0_Drunkenboxer
*** SHOW DOWN ***
0_Drunkenboxer shows [Ks Ad] two pair, Aces and Kings
PeppersChili shows [4c 2c] a straight, Six high
PeppersChili wins the pot ($386.10) with a straight, Six high
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $389.10 | Rake $3
Board: [Ac 3s Kc 5s 6h]
Seat 1: Kungen18 folded before the Flop
Seat 2: 0_Drunkenboxer showed [Ks Ad] and lost with two pair, Aces and Kings
Seat 3: Masterplan666 (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: NoTurns (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 5: PeppersChili (big blind) showed [4c 2c] and won ($386.10) with a straight, Six high <=== I could not have made this much money with any other hand than a set. Ask yourself when you hold AK in his situation, "What hand beats me? His only answer is pocket threes (based on how preflop and post flop are played."
Seat 6: grapejuice808 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 8: jdm_wrx didn't bet (folded)
Seat 9: bravepeety folded before the Flop


With these hands you are not looking at small pots, you are looking at monster pots. Lets say you win $370 only every 1 out of ten tries, is worth it to risk $10 preflop with this hand? Yes, it is worth it if you win $370 1 out of every 37 tries. That is my point, you are looking to get alot of chips, and these hands can get those chips for you. Its not a matter of optimism, its a matter of odds. Hitting at least 12 outs with these hands is fairly common. With that said, I don't always play these and I would not recommend beginning players playing like this.

__________________

Psychic spies from China

MAYBE at a cash game, I'd be willing to concede this playing style, however, in a tourney, EVERY CHIP COUNTS. You play those crap hands for anywhere between 20-175 in the beginning of play, that ends up being up to 500+ chips less you have when blinds get high and you are looking for a good double up (or at least a stack to bully with). I've had the same argument with rw on Axs, playing those hands in a tournament does you no good.

__________________
1st place, March/April 2008 Sunday League

Intelligence, lack thereof: Causing insanity to those with.