Ace-rag offsuit

I hate these hole cards. I loathe these hole cards. I often seem to get these hole cards.

The reason I hate them is I feel like I do not play them correctly, ever -- in middle position, in late position, in blinds. Namely, I usually don't play them.

I feel like I'm leaving money on the table through my ineffective play with Ace-rag off, or allowing myself to be pushed around while holding them. How aggressive do you get with, say A-8 or lower? Preflop and post-flop? How 'bout in middle position?

I fold ace rag and do not regret it due to the reasons you mentioned, it is a trouble hand.
Unless of course late stages of a tournament blinds are high, you are on the button, or maybe a short handed table.
Other than that I never play ace rag, but I am also a big nit.

I gotta agree with Poofy. Ace-rag is only asking for trouble. Lots of players raise oop with these cards and sometimes they pull it off.
But more times than not the one who takes the pot is giggling at the ace monkey. Pick the right time to play these hands or you will suffer indeed! Most of the time the right play is to dump em!

Oh I'm probably a bigger nit than Poofy.

A-rag is best played folded.
Looking at what might have happened, had i not folded..., is result-oriented and therefore bad poker.
FOLD.
GL

aC

If that is the case I pity you, because I am a nit to a fault, lol

To a fault huh? Well, at least I know i ain't alone-lol!!!!!!

lol, it works in cash games, but kills me in tournaments...

Usually just fold, however I try to play suited A-rags aggressively preflop and if I flop a flushdraw, I play that very aggressive too. If an A hits I usually play pretty passively check call 1 street or maybe only bet 1 street for value.

I rarely play them. It seems that other people play them a lot though. And hit that ace a lot. Inevitably when I have Ks.

I too fold Ace-rag offsuit almost every time. That hand offers terrible reverse implied odds.

The times they're useful to me is when I'm short stacked in a tournament (not only when I'm short compared to the rest of the table, but also when my stack is small compared to the size of the blinds), which occurs mostly during the late and middle/bubble stages of a tournament. At that point I mostly treat them as a shoving & blinds stealing tool (or a calling tool if I'm BB and someone who's been shoving wide shoves on me from late position, it's folded to me, I have the odds to call, and losing the AI wouldn't completely destroy my stack).

Oh, nearly slipped my mind--of course, HU any kind of Ax exponentially increases in value.

Yeah, Ace Rag is what I call a qualified hand for me. If it doesn't meet certain qualifications it's a folding hand. Among those qualifications are pot odds, how many at the table, stage of tournament, stack sizes, players at table - the usual. So basically in normal everyday circumstance it's a fold.

Depends on my position, chip stack, the players involved, and how deep I am in the tourney (I don't play cash games). More often than not, I fold that hand.

I hate these cards being dealt or even worse getting it all in with Queens or Kings and someone hitting the Ace. It's the worse and most annoying beat purely because of the sheer number of people who play them and think "Oh I have an Ace, its the nuts" So, they play it like they are holding pocket aces..I hate being sucked out on that rather than someone with connectors!

usually automatic fold for me unless i can limp in early stages of the game.yep i seem to get my KK etc. beat by an idiot who will call a big raise or allin with A 3 or som crap and wins. grrrrrrrr

I'll check in the BB with A-rag, but other than that...

Seriously, when I first started playing, I used to lose a lot of money playing A-rag. As others have mentioned, unless conditions are very specific, fold!

The problem with Ace rag is really what flop do you want to see? If an Ace hits then you may well be outkicked and if it doesn't then you have nothing anyway.

The best you can hope for is to flop two pair or trips with either your ace or kicker. But a pretty rare occurrence!

Grunch,

Fold pre flop. Its hard to play because its not a great hand. You are easliy dominated and you're not even suited so you can't get bailed out by the flush. The rare times that you hit the wheel straight don't compensate you nearly enough. One of the biggest most common leaks that you will see either new or fishy players have is playing Ace-rag.

i dont even play A rag cus u hit an ace on the flop and the chances of you being outkicked are pretty high....only time i even think about callin with ace rag is if its sooooooted

Auto fold. Just two cards in my opinion.

An old lady at a 3/6 limit table once told me: "if you have an ace in your hand, your hand is best".

And we all know live 3/6 limit players are never wrong or suffering from illogical thinking

What I do when I get ace-rag is folding it almost every time, except my stack is short and the blinds would it the whole of it in a few more rounds: in that case, I shove with this two cards, mainly because if the flop is empty the ace will win every time because it is the highest card, or in case you hit another one your opponent should have two pairs or better to defeat you.

I also hate ace-rag suited or off-suit, I never play them early in a tourney. I only play them late in tourney's in good position, or with few people left. I would also use ace-rag if I have less than 10 BB's late in a tourney. Those hands are only asking for trouble.

I personally will never play ace-rag whether they are suited or not. I don't care where I am in position. The way I see it.. its mostly unskilled players at the tables and they will play ace ANYTHING and their ace ANYTHING has a very good change at beating my ace-rag. I wouldn't even bother risking it. especially early in a tourney.

Just my 2 cents

I generally don't play ace rag other than maybe to steal from the button. It really is hard to find much value in this type of hand because it suffers from reverse implied odds. I like to play A2-A5 suited because it can flop some well disguised draws/made hands, but offsuit middle aces especially are trash imo.

I need to amend my previous stance on A-rag. I had forgotten the short stack game! Last night in the CC freeroll I went all in pre-flop with A-rag. An ace showed up somewhere on the board and I was able to hang around for a bit longer. Ah, everything's situational in poker, isn't it?

It really depends on the situation. (first off.. whether it be tournament poker (early levels? mid levels? late? what pos.? etc. etc. etc. or deepstacked cash game, or HU SuperTurbo SNG (lol), etc.).

If I were you, I Really wouldn't be worried about 'leaving money on the table' while holding A-rag hands. As mentioned above these hands have reverse implied odds (you might stand to win a small pot.. or lose a big one).

Putting the hand in the actual context of play (the specific situation we're in when dealt it & the action before us) makes such a HUGE difference in how one would likely want to proceed with it.

Fold A Rag.

Situational dependent at times.

I remember watching an interview with Annie Duke where she talked about ace rag. She said that so many people raise from middle position with ace rag, get called by the button or the BB, they hit an ace on the flop and then have absolutely no idea where they are in the hand. I think it's a common leak with new players who see that ace and fall in love with it. To my mind, folding that ace rag certainly saves you money. Obviously the later stages of a MTT would alter the play with this hand somewhat. I feel like ace rag is one of those hands that will win small pots occasionally and lose big pots more often.

I'm happy to steal blinds from BB, or even CO on certain cash tables with ace rag. early and mid positions its a fold everytime.

i dont know about that guys A rag late postion is good enought for a rasie if 2 players calls and it good enought to take that pot down right there and it looks like like a sqeeze play and you have an ace to go with it so you better use it and use the postion as weel as you have the ace

it's a solid hand HU

but, i think understanding why it's trouble can allow you to play it correctly

you are almost always happy when you pair your highest card and have top pair, but not so much with A-rag ... you can't help but feel you're out-kicked, since anyone that woke up with AT or higher probably is in the hand with you and if you're gonna feel that way, then why play it to begin with

of course, like anything in poker the situation and the player(s) will and should dictate what you do

beating somebody with KK or QQ after you flopped your A can be fun, but if they fire at all 3 streets it is almost impossible to call without a great read

what i would say is that in my experience, what I would call above average players probably de-value A-rag off more than they should and value A-rag suited more than they should

Okay so it's not like I would NEVER play it at a full table but I will and have folded it after the flop even when an Ace does come up. I will definitely, 100% of the time, fold it in early position.

Im in the same boat you are. I never play them right and they always seem to get me beat one way or another. Lose to A-rag and lose with A-rag. Love it when I have my cowboys kicked by em, that's my favorite thing in the world and probably the thing that makes me happiest in life.

I don't like to play A-rag except as a steal type hand or a bluff. I am not looking to see a flop. And if you see a flop you have to be able to let them go. One c-bet and then i am done. The nice thing is if its steal attempt and you get called at least you have an A. I prefer if it is suited even thought the odds are not that much better but it makes an opportunity for a simi bluff on the flop or turn.

My last two big cash nlhe losses came from someone playing A-rag.

i just thought about one situation where i lover A-rag; table chip leader in a mtt tournament with ante's to open any pot from mid to late position.