[PokrLikeItsProse]

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To say that decisions are less meaningful when the pot is small is just flat out wrong. You need to understand that I am talking about a good player playing against bad (or less good) players. How often do you see a bad player and think, he folds too much ? Not often. Most bad players call too much and by keeping the pot smaller, you are letting them make mistakes. Essentially keeping the pot smaller on the flop means that you should fold more on the flop, which you will do if you are good, and the bad players will call more. That is why in pot/no limit bad players get destroyed so easily. They see a flop and one of two things happens. They are in front and bet somewhere between half and full pot giving somewhere between 3-1 and 2-1 on the call and a good player will fold. On the other side of the coin the good player is in front on the flop, bets the same and the bad player calls too often. In limit holdem when you raise in a game with fairly bad/not so good players they a. dont tend to fold as much as they should preflop and b. chase on the flop more than they should. If you can keep the pot small preflop then your main advantage will be getting away from hands on the flop when you are behind, where the opponents will call too much when they are behind.
Let me ask you this. If you are so sure about yourself, and your poker understanding is so deep, why did you even start this thread?

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Actually, I find many bad players who fold too much. Ever heard of the term "weak-tight"?

By limping, you make a lot of bad preflop decisions by bad loose players more correct. It usually correct to play more hands at a passive table with not a lot of preflop raising. By not raising, you do not punish players who make the mistake of playing too many hands. By limping, you encourage more limpers behind you, creating a moderately sized pot that gives weak draws on the flop reasonable odds to take one more card off for one bet anyways. Sometimes, you turn what would have been a clear mistake to call two bets cold pre-flop into a correct or marginal action to call a single bet with a speculative hand.

My main advantage is in building a large pot when I have either the best hand or the best draw and a bet/raise is +EV. If I feel the need to affect the odds my opponents are getting to outdraw me, then I play less aggressively on the flop and push harder on the turn.

Also, I started this thread to see if anyone had any insight into whether it was possible to target a player who is making the obvious mistake of playing too passively preflop. I am amused that someone who reads this forum can be so wrong as to dispute that idea.