Ace rag...

[david3103]

When is it right to play Ace rag?

I ask because it seems that every time I raise preflop with 10 10, JJ AK etc the flop has an A and a raggy card that gives my opp 2 pair...

I'm pretty sure that hands like A 7 off are, as a general rule, instant folds to a preflop raise of any size, but maybe I'm the one that's getting it wrong?

[boldie]

no you're pretty much right as a general rule.

[Longy]

As with alot of poker it is massively situational. Overplaying any ace is very common with losing players and if you are folding it alot to a raise or in early position that is a good thing.

I will raise it in late position (cutoff/button) and shove with it when shortstacked.

As for losing against it, well thats varience for you. Of course you should be slowing down on alot of ace high flops with pairs.

[DungBeetle]

I imagine you'll get a ton of differing views on this.  My use of Arag is very cautious in tournaments - I only really have three uses for it:

1) Raising to steal blinds when the BB is short stacked (i.e. when he is likely to push with ATC and you are likely to be ahead)
2) Shoving when short stacked
3) Seeing a cheap flop with suited arag, but I'm not going to commit a lot of chips if I only hit the ace.

Lots will disagree I am sure, but I just think it's a trap hand which loses far more than it wins if you play it regularly.

[EvilPie]

As with alot of poker it is massively situational. Overplaying any ace is very common with losing players and if you are folding it alot to a raise or in early position that is a good thing.

I will raise it in late position (cutoff/button) and shove with it when shortstacked.

As for losing against it, well thats varience for you. Of course you should be slowing down on alot of ace high flops with pairs.

What he says.

Also in the BB or SB I might try a cheeky reraise against a button / cut off raiser who makes a habit of raising anything folded round to them.

This will often win you a pot as their range can be huge and they won't want to fight with their mediocre holding.

Got to be very careful though. VERY CAREFUL!!!!

[vegaslover]

pretty much always fold it. you're usually behind if an A hits the flop, and don't know where you are if you don't hit the flop.
Will push with it when short in tourneys, note push not call.
Will call small raises in cash with a suited A rag if up against players who will pay off my flush

[mondatoo]

As with alot of poker it is massively situational. Overplaying any ace is very common with losing players and if you are folding it alot to a raise or in early position that is a good thing.

I will raise it in late position (cutoff/button) and shove with it when shortstacked.

As for losing against it, well thats varience for you. Of course you should be slowing down on alot of ace high flops with pairs.

Longy, are you shoving with any ace ss in tourney ?

So many mtts i play when i'm short in late position and shove with say A4 and get called by a bigger ace so i've stopped making that play as i think it's better to shove with worse hands that i'm not dominated by if i get a caller

[Longy]

Mond -

I don't play more than 20 mtts a year(most of them are live), so my numbers maybe a bit off. I would shove any ace from the sb in an unopened pot with 12bbs or less, any ace from the button with 10bbs or less and any ace from the cutoff with less than 7bbs in stts. In mtts we can actually shove wider so open those ranges up a bit.

As a caveat i would rather shove q9s than a2o, any ace is still in the top 35% of any reasonable pushing range.