As you already know (but others will be reading this also), rag aces should just be dumped, unless you are first to act in late position, or get a good price defending your big blind. I will open A9 a little bit earlier than A6 though, and on the other side a hand like A2 is so bad, it can actually be folded even on BTN. So just like all pairs 22-99 are not the same, neither is A2-A9.
With that being said part of the value in opening A2-A9 is the fact, that you have taken an ace out of the deck, so you are a little bit less likely to get action. You simply have more fold
equity, than if you open other hands, and you will get 3-bet less often, because you block a lot of your opponents 3-betting range.
So in a sense, when you get action, you can consider it a failed
bluff, and its ok sometimes to just give up, if the situation is not good for continuing. Like you are out of position, the flop connects well with your opponents range, and you really have nothing other than your overcard. Then maybe just check-fold rather than waste the C-bet.
In other situations though its fine to take a stab and just try to take home the dead money. Like your opponent is out of position, he probably missed the board, and he is folding a lot to C-bets. Then just bet and take it home on the flop.
Then of course there are those flops, where we make one pair, and this is either going to be top pair with kicker problems or typically second or third pair. This kind of hand is typically of the bluff catcher / showdown value type, but again it depends.
If you are BTN vs. BB, and the flop is wet, then I would probably bet top pair no kicker flop and turn and then check back river to get value from draws. But if you are out of position on a dry A high board with top pair no kicker, there is typically no point in betting. Just check to your opponent instead and let him take a stab with his whatever.