Why does Ace-rag bring out the worst in people?

[ariesone]

Happy New Years all.

Last night in a Poker Stars $10 buy-in tourney with 60ish left I push my A-7 in the bb. I am called down by an A-9 and bust out in 61st. Another player proceeds to call us f-ing morons because he layed down A-J claiming that holding an ace does not mean all-in. In my defense on this particular play, I was basically an orbit from blinding out with my 9k stack in one of the worst card dead tourneys I can rememeber. Only made it as far as I did bluffing and stealing blinds on the back of Ace-rags. But anyhoo, I digress. I have been fortunate enough to have the week off and time to play. After thinking about it for a few minutes I came to the realization that every "incident" I had this week surrounded an ace-rag play. A couple of the other comments I had slung my way this week were, "BS, you loose SOB, and "Do you think A-8 is a good hand?" People seem more inclinded to take a beat with one of Howard Lederer's A thru E hands without incident, but if you inflict hurt on their stack with ace-rag watch out.

Six months ago I did not play ace-rag myself, but it seemed like there were too many times I was thinking I should have played that damn ace. Of course I stay away from family pots with them today, but if I can get in short handed on the cheap, you bet, I want to see that flop. I don't have a problem getting away from the hand if I make a decent stab at the pot and I get called or run over. I still believe I have gained many more chips than I have given away. And I don't call people names when my ace-rag lets me down.

[cferejohn]

What were the stacks and blinds? There are certainly times it makes sense to push a mediocre ace. Just make sure it's not out of frustration. That is, just because you have been card dead doesn't mean you will continue to be, so if you are really in a place where you really think that pushing A7 is a good play, fine, but if you could actually stand to wait a little longer and you are just doing it because it's the best hand you've seen in an hour, try to restrain yourself (which is not always as easy as it sounds).

And in any case, don't worry about people giving you a hard time. The very fact that they are spending time berating people says that they don't really understand poker. You don't need to argue with them or justify yourself to them, and in fact it is better if you don't, since then you are probably encouraging the entire table (or at least the thinking players) to take some fairly detailed notes on you.

The only time I would respond is when I am still in the tournament and I think the other player is starting to steam/tilt and I think a couple comments might make it worse. My favorite response in this case is "Lol cry more n00b!" and then refusing to answer anything else they say (boy does that drive some people crazy). Your response may vary.

Also remember that if they are being really abusive, you can report them to support. Most sites claim they will warn, eliminate chat, or even kick people off.

[whiskeytown]

say you learned how to play by watching poker played on TV

then watch them tilt you right into the money [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

RB

[patrick dicaprio]

interesting. there is a guy in my regular game who often calls bets or raises with Ax when he has a lot chips, is against weak players or if the bet is small, and he is able to fold it when beaten. when he does call he exerts pressure on the smaller stacks on many flops. the funny part is that he is a relative newbie and i see him win many more chips than he loses. one of the things i noticed is that the other players alwyas put him on the lower of the range of hands he can have, so when he does have a strong hand he always gets paid off. even a newbie can open your eyes a litle.

Pat