Wed Dec 30, 2004.

$20 buy in. steady for a while. all in on 5, 6 suited. all night i was getting connected cards...not amounting to anything. so i went all in with a suited 5, 6. it was a risky impulse bet that i shouldn't have made. i should have limped in and waited for the flop. i was beat with pocket aces...trip aces on the river. $14 buy back. steady for a bit. got tired of cold cards, went all-in on another connected suited low pair. i was beat by the same guy, this time he had pocket Ks! i broke one of my rules - don't get antsy for action.

my cousin sent me an email the next morning explaining how it would have been better to play the hands. he made the point that a small suited connector is a good hand against high pairs (Ks, As) if you have a good chance of making the flush or straight on the flop.

"Talbot. What's up? Let's talk shop for a little bit here. Now, I realize that you were bluffing, you tried to make a play and make something happen and you ran into monsters both times. But I want to make sure that you realize that your small suited connector can be a reallypowerful hand especially against monsters like AA and KK. In fact, those are exactly the types of hands you want to be up against with 5,6s! You want to limp in pre flop with a lot of callers. When the flop comes down4, 7, K with two hears and you have an open ended straight draw and a flush draw you are in a position to potentially really hurt someone withan overpair in the pocket. Especially KK or AA because they won't beable to lay it down and when you do hit your straight or your flush youare going to absolutely cripple them. You're going to take down their whole stack. Especially because people who aren't on a flush draw nevernotice it, and they certainly won't expect the straight with a 4, 7 onthe flop. It just doesn't look like a straight draw. Even if a 3 or an 8comes up 4, 7, K, 8, Q just doesn't look like a board with a straighton it. The point is it's only a powerful hand if you hit it, and themajority of the time you aren't going to and it's worth nothing. But itplays well in a pot with a lot of callers where the pot odds will allowyou to chase your straight or your flush."