[the 9]

Not sure why no-one has replied to this, seems like a fairly reasonable post, so I'll throw in my 2c. (If it has been discussed on this forum before, then my apologies but I haven't seen it)

First off I'd say it depends on the stakes you're playing.
If it's micro or smaller stakes like .25/.50 then I suspect you're going to be seeing a lot more muti-way pots than at 1/2 or 2/4.

I've always found the best strategy at .25/.50 was to be very aggressive on loose tables, basically raising all decent pairs and AK/AQ to 4 or 5BB pf and potting most flops, providing I had only 1 or 2 callers. If it was obvious that these raises were being called by 4/5/6 people in any position, then I simply raise more.
This type of table allows me to limp (or get very good pf odds calling raises) on my second string hand like ATs, midpairs for a set, just looking for a big flop.
Axs is a very good multiway hand playing for the flush (or at least 2 suits on an unpaired flop) but it is not so good vs 1 or 2 opponents for a raise, as you're more likely to be up against a bigger ace.

It has always been my experience that it's best for big hands to play against fewer opponents and stack the second best hands like AJo, 99 etc - despite many posts on 2+2 saying you want lots of people in the pot when you have AA.

At stakes like 1/2 and 2/4, position becomes a lot more important and you can be limping multiway with all sorts of hands and raising all sorts of hands to be heads up with specific players you have a read on. The cards become less important as less hands go to showdown. If it's these stakes you're talking about that would need a bit more in depth discussion to be useful to you.

Those are just my intial ramblings, feel free to agree/flame [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]