Suited Cards and Connectors
"Suited Cards" and "Connectors" are the last kinds of hands to talk about. They each have an advantage in that suited cards can more easily grow into a flush than most cards. Connected (or cards in sequence) have an easier time growing into a straight. Flushes and straights win a lot of pots.

The problem is . . . flushes and straights don't come around often. So it's best to play these cards when they have something else going for them, like being high in rank. QJ suited is a better hand than 65 suited. In the one time out of nearly twenty that you do land a flush, you'll have a higher flush with the QJ. Plus, you'll win more pots by landing a high pair when the flush doesn't hit.

Simply put, if the only thing two cards have going for them is that they are either suited or connected, that's probably not enough to make them worth playing. If you're going to take a chance on cards like these, make sure you have a lot of company in the pot, and your can see the flop cheaply.

I know that there have been dozens of hands televised where players have held suited connectors and won huge pots, but they are mostly in no limit games played by pros. In limit poker, unless you have a lot of company in the pot, low cards are best tossed in the muck.

Trap Hands . . .
I didn't mention playing hands like A6, K5, and Q7 for a reason. These hands are a tough play, and oftentimes a bad one. They're the kind of hands that can trap you into playing a pot you are destined to lose.

Say you love Aces, and decide to play A7 offsuit. And the flop comes Ace, Queen, Four. Woo-hoo, you've hit your Ace. The problem is that your kicker (the card that breaks ties) is only a 7. If any other player in the hand is playing solid poker and also has an Ace, he has you beaten. He'll be playing quality hands like AK, AQ, AJ, AT, and they all have better kickers.

Often you'll bet to the river to find out you were outkicked at the showdown and lose the pot you've been paying into all along. In order to win hands with cards like K6, you need to be the only player who hits a pair of Kings.

Playing hands like these is not solid poker, and is a way to bleed chips off of your stack and onto your opponents.

Dominated Hands . . .
When one hand "covers" a card the second hand, it is said to dominate it. For instance, when AK comes up against KQ, AK dominates it.

That is the idea behind only cold calling raises with the very best hands. (A cold call is calling a raise when you have no money in the pot already). You are in danger of having your hand dominated by a top tier hand, and then there are very few cards in the deck that can help you.

In our example, landing a King does not help the dominated hand. There are only three cards in the deck that can help you when your hand is dominated (barring straights and flushes). That's why staying away from situations where you may be dominated is so important.