These big suited hands are nice to have because they play three ways. They can hit good pairs, straights and flushes.

But at the moment, they are nothing but potential. A raise from late position is not a bad move, building a pot in which you have positive expected value. But you don’t want a big confrontation, because you could also be dominated by a premium pair, or in some cases an ace with better kicker. So call small or medium raises, limp from Early and Middle positions and raise (medium) from late position.

After the flop, remember the golden rule – win big pots and lose small ones. Yes a pair is nice and you have a good kicker. But this is low stakes poker. Top pair is not the money hand. By all means raise but don’t get carried away. If you have a straight or flush draw, check the odds and play if correct. If you have a good read, then you may factor in overcards, but I think this is dangerous. Often the bettor will have a set or two pair and you are over-counting your outs. You want the nuts, and your opponents entire stack, not a tricky top pair decision on the river.

As with all of the big hands, when you hit you have to decide how best to get money in the pot. Personally I slow play an unbelievable percentage of these hands because the other players rarely disappoint me – and if they don’t have enough to fire at the pot on the river, they wouldn’t have called my raise either.