First off I am not a tourney player most of the time...

I have found over my poker playing career that I have reevaluated my play and questioned my thoughts eventually changing them. I consider this being an increase of insight into the game from experience.

Saying that…. A long time ago I may have agreed with your lack of pre flop betting. I have played that way and made it work. I have however strayed away from that idea long ago. Here is why…

I now feel pre-flop betting increases your chances of winning a hand and I’ll give an example:

Lets say there are 8 other players at your table including things like 3;5o 7;9o, K;Qo, A;Jo, A5o, and you have AKs.

You bet heavy pre-flop, not all-in, like 5 x BB. 3;5 folds, 7;9 folds, A;5 folds. Leaving you in a 3 way. Your AK vs KQ vs AJ. (This is what you want to see! A lot of crappy hands against me is scary!)

On the flop 3,5,7 hits. You have less to fear in this hand because small hands fold to the heavy betting. You are more likely to be winning than if you were playing all 8 other players. If you didn’t scare off the 3;5 he would have two pair and you would be far behind. You still have to fear things like Q’s and J’s because another player could have called with a semi-good hand. 3,5,K could have hit and you would have been in bad shape if you had not bet(someone could have hit two small pair, limped in with 3;3, lots of draws come up.). Now since you bet, it looks pretty good.

You are betting pre-flop to eliminate the JUNK from beating you. With the junk opponent cards gone a lot more combinations on the table favor you. If more combinations on the table favor you, you hence have a better chance of winning!