questions about my preflop play...

[doctorjae]

ok, so i'm a relative noob to the forum and the game (nlhe). i prefer to play micro-limit MTT/STT, but i do play ring games, cause i know that's less variance and prob better for my bankroll...i digress...my question(s), about my MTT/STT play is this...(i don't have my PT #'s here at work, but i remember them for the most part)...with a VPIP of 18% and PFR of 6% could this be way too tight/passive for the micros...i've heard or read that ABC poker will be profitable, but i don't want to be just profitable, i want to crush the games and be the best in the tourny, heck i want to be the best on FT (but i have a little ways to go before then, so y'all can breathe a sigh of relief... [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]....FOR NOW...)...back to the topic...

i know that my PFR could stand to be a little/lot higher. however, in the micros, i've found that i'm usually not gonna get most players to fold most hands w/ a 3-5xBB raise, so for the most part (ignoring AA,KK and a few others), i'd rather limp and wait to see what the flop brings, this is probably wrong, just telling ya my tendencies at this point....now, i am aggressive post flop when i hit, or have goods draws, or am in position and believe that opponents prob didn't hit, etc, it's just that my PF aggression in not large...could this be a leak?..

also, sometimes in these things, i find myself going 3 or 4 orbits (prob more on a couple of occassions) without getting/playing a hand. i know i should mix it up a little, but most at these levels aren't paying attn anyhow...so is it possible (i know anything's possible in poker, but...) that i can go 30+ hands w/out getting anything to play? or am i passing up some valuable spots, such as weak offsuit aces, offsuit connectors, etc (in late postition, of course)

this is a long post just to ask if VPIP/PFR #'s are ok..sorry for this, but maybe it'll spark some discussions...i understand some of these issues may be very table/player/situation dependen and may be hard/impossible to answer...i'm gonna start posting specific hands soon, once i figure out how to find the specific hand i'm looking for and then convert, and then post...anyhoo....thanks in advance...

[Harv72b]

You don't raise preflop for hand protection, you raise preflop for value. The hand protection part is just a bonus. But if your opponents are willing to call your raises with junk hands, and especially when they're willing to go with it if they flop 1 pair with those junk hands, then of course you should be making your standard raises. And then there's also all the times that you make your raise, get called by 1 or 4 people, and win the pot with a flop bet. All of those increase your stack.

Try to look at each hand you play this way: you want to balance the vulnerability of your hand with winning the biggest pot you can...every hand in a tournament is a case of maximizing your value while attempting to avoid any undue risk of ruin. So if you flop the stone cold nuts, you should be betting (or raising) exactly the maximum that you feel your opponent(s) will call. If you flop a strong but vulnerable holding (like a set or TPTK on a drawy board), you should be more likely to look at ways to end the hand quickly--either by forcing folds from your opponents, or by getting 1 or more of them (or you) all in.

It's a tough line to walk, but NLHE is a tough game to master.