Using small bets instead of "protecting" your hand with bigger bets??

[icemanjmw]

Okay, this might be really dumb so that's why I'm posting it here before I play next week and lose money. I play in a pretty loose/weak/bad home game a few times a week in different places but with the same people. Recently I've been going with a philosophy of raising big preflop with good hands, and when I had made hands after the flop betting 2/3 pot to force anyone to pay to draw on me. I was protecting my hands and avoiding suck outs but I wasn't really getting "paid off" as it were.

So now, I remember reading about Ferguson and some other players using small bets to keep the opponent around and making mistakes through later streets. I'm thinking this sounds interesting to try, betting maybe 1/3 pot instead of 2/3 and then if it looks like my opponent gets there I can release the hand. The result is probably more suck outs and more folds by me when I have the winning hand, but at the same time I stand to really let an opponent stick around to give me his whole stack if he misses or hits and I still have a better hand.

So is this something worth trying, is this only a tournament viable strategy, or is it not even worth messing around with? Any input from experienced players is appreciated.

[Beanos]

Don't do this. Make them pay to "suckout", because if you give them correct odds (by betting small) then its not a "suckout".

"I wasn't really getting 'paid off' as it were". Do it with worse hands to balance. If they keep folding, keep betting. If you can't get "paid off" with big hands, get value from weak hands folding out your opponents. If they adjust and start calling, you adjust and stop betting trash.