Is Ax s worth playing in NL holdem?

[AeonBlues]

Generally the games I play in are passive, so I've gotten in the habit of limping in with any A suited hand. A few weeks ago, I got a program called pokertracker. I'm looking at the A 8 ~ 2 suited hands, and for about 100 hands played, they average a loss of about .038 per hand, when the BB was $1. Admittedly it's only 100 hands I'm looking at. And 4 cents per hand is not horrible, but if it's negative, it's negative. I play smart, I'm a tight player, I think I'm playing my Ax s hands as best as they can be played. I was wondering if anyone has actually found these hands to be profitable, or should they just be tossed off the blind?

AeonBlues

[Al_Capone_Junior]

I find them to be very valuable in loose limit games, but barely worth the effort in no limit, ring or tourneys. It's too obvious when you make a flush and bet big in no limit. In limit, people don't have to call anything but one more bet, so they are worth much more. I tend to ditch them in tourneys, unless late or stealing. In ring games, I'm a little looser with them, but they are still not very good until you reach AT and up.

al

[Legend27]

In NL games where 5+ people usually see the flop I play a/x. If it's a fairly tight game then you're not going to make much money off the flushes you get with it so it's not really worth playing then.

[Al_Capone_Junior]

I can see this, and I even will play them in a loose, fairly passive ring game. But because the flushes are more obvious than str8s, you generally won't get paid off as well when you hit the flush. DBB str8 draws are the best for NL, my favorite. However, flopping trips with Axs can often result in getting paid big time, especially if someone else also flops trips with a smaller kicker.

al

[Robk]

Yes they are profitable you probably just haven't hit your share of flushes yet.

[Gus]

I play mainly in NL loose game, not very aggressive, where most of the player will make minimum bet/raise or close to it... therefore you get a great price on your draws. However the implied on a flush draw are not that great as noone will pay you if you make a pot size bet (straight are much better for that). I ususally find it's better to under bet the pot with the nut flush... say one third to half the pot, as you've got much more chance to get paid off, and your opponent will also be more keen on raising you if they got a flush as well.

however, I don't have any statistics to prove that.