Ace-rag offsuit

[Salty Mouse]

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?

 

[Poof]

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.

 

[skyin452]

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!

 

[skyin452]

Oh I'm probably a bigger nit than Poofy.

 

[akaCLINT]

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

 

[Poof]

Oh I'm probably a bigger nit than Poofy.

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

 

[skyin452]

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

 

[Poof]

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...

 

[Madmansam]

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.

 

[thejuanupsman]

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.

 

[SYWTWAF]

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.

 

[MediaBLITZ]

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.

 

[aaron_jd]

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.

 

[RamdeeBen]

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!

 

[buzzmania]

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

 

[PurgatoryD]

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!

 

[Tangerine 53]

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!

 

[alaskabill]

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.

 

[bigpick76]

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

 

[Exit141RTe1]

Auto fold. Just two cards in my opinion.

 

[KoRnholio]

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

 

[manu994]

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.

 

[5TR8 FLUSH]

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.

 

[d44ve]

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

 

[Leatherass]

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.