[phydaux]

Good point, Chris.

You do have to play much tighter in EP in a NL game than in limit. This is because of the exponential nature of the bet sizes in NL. Think about when you bring it in from EP with KQ, make top pair on the flop, get called to the river and then get shown AQ. In limit this not a mistake, since the most it can cost you is 4-5 big bets (so call it 10 big blinds). In NL this is a mistake because it can cost you your entire 100 big blind buy-in.

And when it if folded or limped around then you can get away with raising much more loosely from the Button & Cut Off. If you don't just take down the pot right there without even seeing a flop, you will likely be heads up after the flop with both position and the initiative of being the pre-flop raiser. Your oponent will have to act first and he will have no way of knowing if your flop bet/raise is a naked bluff, a semi-bluff or a powerhouse made hand. Once again the exponential nature of turn & river bets comes into play, the "Hammer of Future Bets" as Dave & Ed call it. But this time it's working for you. A c-bet will take down the pot very often, and if you get played back at it usually means strength.

And that's why floating, check/calling on the flop and then betting out on the turn, sometimes even with air, is such a powerful tool when faced with a habitual c-bettor.

I'll stop now, because we're way off track from simple, solid NL pre-flop strategy and dangerously close to FPS.

And I haven't had my FPS booster shot recently...