7♠6♠ CO vs BTN, preflop, 95 bb
The spot
- You: CO
- Opponent: BTN
- Your hand: 7♠6♠
- Board: preflop, no board yet
- Effective stack: 95 bb
- Pot: 3.5 bb
Villain opens and action is on hero preflop.
Which action keeps the best EV baseline?
See the answer
Best play: Call
Why
Hero has 7♠6♠, a suited connector, in the CO facing a BTN open, so this is a facing-an-open spot where hero is out of position. Flatting keeps a hand with good straight and flush potential and clean board coverage in the pot, but because hero is OOP against the in-position BTN, calling is thin and a fold or occasional 3‑bet bluff is also fine; the call realizes equity with a hand too speculative to 3‑bet for value.
Key idea
Suited connectors like 76s want to see flops cheaply, but realizing their equity out of position against an in-position opener is harder, so flatting is a lower-EV defend than the same hand in position.
Common mistake
Treating every suited connector as an automatic call regardless of position, instead of tightening up out of position where equity realization drops.