Opening up - pocket pairs or suited connectors ?

Wrong question. What do YOU prefer?

First of all, don't "open up" just for the sake of opening up.

If you are a solid winner with, say, a 100k database with hands, have a look at what runs well and what doesn't. I personally adjust my ranges a bit to the opposition. For example, playing small pp oop in 3-handed pots just isn't profitable. Edit: Nor does suited connectors.

Well, I'm still making my mind up / a clueless noob , so I thought I'd ask the community.

It may be one of those topics that's so marginal and player style dependent there is no strong right or wrong answer.

Why don't you post some ranges and we can let you know where you're potentially missing out

Remember poker is still defined very much by equity so opening 43s from the HJ just isn't going to be profitable for the vast majority of players, you're going to end up having to 3-barrell it a ton and you'll never make top pair with it.

tbh your CO opening range seems fine so really to only be coming in at 25/19 with those opening ranges in late position I'd say the "hole" is probably in your blind defense play but that may simply be a function of the stakes.

Hi Boomer,

Here's my modified later ranges for default opening play. I've changed the button range from what it was :

CO 22 A-5/A-xs K-9/K-6s Q-9/Q-7s J-9/J-7s T-9 T-7s/9-7s/8-7s/7-6s/6-5s
BT 22 A-x K-6/K-xs Q-7/Q-xs J-7/J-5s T-7/9-7/8-7 T-6s/9-6s/8-5s/7-5s/6-4s/5-4s
SB 22 A-x K-4/K-xs Q-4/Q-xs J-5/J-3s T-6/9-7/8-7 T-4s/9-4s/8-5s/7-5s/6-5s/5-4s/4-3s

You may well be correct about blind play - at .10/.20 there's not much stealing from the small blind, but lots of open limping. I was advised to always raise when this happens but I tend to call only for the free card. I think I need to start following that advice.

I also think I may be 3betting a little under, but that's maybe a topic for another thread.

Blindly raising someone limping from the SB is just bad advice. Don't follow it. It's good to sometimes do that with stuff having some value, like 98o. This allows you to represent a hit on a flop like AK6. But don't overdo it with utter trash like 52. (If you do that, you will make limping on your BB the right play.) Think about the opponents range instead. Some SB limpers are actually tight, but they aren't folding A high to blind aggression. For the loser limpers, well, they aren't folding preflop. Why escalate the pot with total garbage? It might just result in that it becomes more difficult to steal the pot on the flop (which you should try 100% if they check).

Edit: I think your ranges (CO and BU, haven't looked at SB) look good. They are a lot looser than the SHC, but that's what you wanted I guess.

As far as "Loose is Right" goes when it comes to the small blind, I personally think it's a chapter of its own. You might want to have a look at this:

http://www.pokerstrategy.com/video/27625/

With any sort of competent opponent in the big blind, any sort of high rake, or any sort of odd structure (2/5) you should tighten up considerably. The opponent is in the drivers seat, so rundown equity is a pretty useless measure.