[MRBAA]

I think the ace often has a lot of value in loose low limit games where people come in with all kinds of stuff (like 4-6 suited, for instance). In a tight, tough game then, yeah, you're not loving an ace. But the key to these hands -- and any hand -- is you have to play decently postflop. You're not calling a raise preflop, so against most players you're eliminating AK, AQ, AA-JJ as possible hands you're against. Now when the flop comes with an ace you have to look at what else is in the flop, what's the action, who's giving the action, and do some basic hand reading. If you can't do this and will call down everytime against ace/better kicker, little two pair, etc., then you need to learn to play better. But if you can get away when you're beat more often than not and extract bets from middle pair, etc. when you're best, then by all means play this. The fact that an expert, higher stakes players like Joe Tall and Clarkmeister will play these from very early tells you how confident they are in their hand reading skills. I'll do the same in a very passive game, but will muck in even a slightly more aggressive one before middle position, simply because I hate it when I get raised behind. Now I don't know if my ace is good, the pot is pretty big, and I may have a tough choice between calling and folding when an ace flops and the pre-flop raiser bets.