Playing ace rags

Ok as much poker as ive played I know that ace rags will get you into more trouble than not. So my question is, when (statistically) is an ace rag ok to play, heads up? 6 handed 4 handed? when does an ace rag become profitable to actually consider playing. BC i know ace high can be the winning hand more times than not since we only mathematically hit the flop 33% of the time.

And also, something i have been pondering. Ace rags can be super deadly (but this does not happen often) but i know the chances are the same with any 2 cards to flop 2 pair (unless u have a PP)(( not counting a pair on the board)) but i have been stacked horribly to an ace rag 2 pair more times than having AK top pair with ace kicker. Again if u flop 2 pair with any 2 you still have a solid hand, but i see ace rag 2 pairs get paid off more than just 2 pair hands. I feel that AK does not get paid off as often (as in getting your money all in and getting stacked) than having an ace rag (with 2 pair) vs a premium hand Like AK AQ. I know that AK is def going to win against ace rags more often in the long run, but that does not always mean that you will get max value every time for your good hand. More times I see the nasty ace rag 2 pairs getting paid off v AKs
So do we call that a bad beat? Bad luck? Donk luck? I know every situation is of course different in poker and this is really general. But i have been putting in many hours and I am noticing more and more that crazy crappy hands tend to be the hands that premium hands pay off, weather it be bad turns, suck outs, or just being out played. Premium hands are def still solid and will make you money if played right and well in the long run, but how could you take advantage of those ace rags more because as much trouble as they can get you into, they def put me on tilt more times than not when my KK gets out floped with that dam Ace on the board.

Little feed back please

Well in HU play any ace or pocket pair are good.. All this also depends on how the table is playing when your on how you should play and what you should play at any given time.

darkassassin89 said:

I feel that AK does not get paid off as often (as in getting your money all in and getting stacked) than having an ace rag (with 2 pair) vs a premium hand Like AK AQ. I know that AK is def going to win against ace rags more often in the long run, but that does not always mean that you will get max value every time for your good hand. More times I see the nasty ace rag 2 pairs getting paid off v AKs

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1 - most raise pf with AK AQ...not so much with A rag... so those holding A-rag are more likely to "know" their two pair is good
2 - A-rag pairing only the A, people can and will fold it. AK pairing only the Ace is often only folded if the holder thinks the other guy has two pair, a set, a str8 a flush
3 - How often would you even realize that the AK paired a king on the river if the A-rag hadn't paired the kicker?

PokerPete said:

1 - most raise pf with AK AQ...not so much with A rag... so those holding A-rag are more likely to "know" their two pair is good
2 - A-rag pairing only the A, people can and will fold it. AK pairing only the Ace is often only folded if the holder thinks the other guy has two pair, a set, a str8 a flush
3 - How often would you even realize that the AK paired a king on the river if the A-rag hadn't paired the kicker?

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i get what your saying, but could u explain the 3rd comment more, im a little slow so im finding it hard to follow it

darkassassin89 said:

i get what your saying, but could u explain the 3rd comment more, im a little slow so im finding it hard to follow it

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Sure. Let's take AK vs A-rag suited. You raise pf and the soooted guy calls.

You flop an ace and two low card of the same suit. This guy is thinking "Man! I got like a bazillion outs!" and calls every thing you throw at em.
If he hits the flush, you think "no big deal, the lucky donk hit his flush draw"...but what about the 12% of the time when he doesn't but hits one of his other outs...namely the three that match the rag. Very vivid memory that lives with you for a while

Same hand. Same villain. Same flop. Different suits. You bet, he folds. Did you hit your king on the turn or river? No one knows nor cares...shuffle, deal, next hand please

Same hand. Same villain. Same flop. But this time villain is short stacked and pushes 7BB PF. You're a healthy stack in BB and folds around to you. You call.

Same flop that misses his suit. You have Aces w/K he has aces with junk. turn & river miss his rag...do you really care what they were? Nope. Was one a King? I dunno, maybe...didn't matter

what I'm getting at is you only see the rest of the hand when either the Ace-rag is leading, has a pile of outs, or one or both are all-in.
...so yes.. ace-rag pays off big...when it hits two pair.
A-big pays off when you hit Top pair (either) or two pair, or nothing and the villain folds to you c-bet

cool thanks i get what you mean, so sadly as mad as we get at MR DONK for playing his ace rag and sucking out (wether it be flush or 2 pair) then sadly we should have been able to try and read his much easy SNAP calls and snap shoves and a little to egar to call excitment as HERO (me) being behind.

sometimes no matter what you bet you can't push the Donkey playing Ace rag off the pot... Usually cause they don't know better but they usually get lucky too I feel the pain..

Not trying to bring this back to life oranything, but man did i get pissed off about some things lol