Newbie looking for some pre flop & calling station advice

[Nuff]

Hi all, i've been playing for about a month now at $0.50/$1 and have made substantial progress so far (compared to where I started). However, i've got two problem areas that I am struggling with at the moment.

First, I don't have a good grasp yet of when to raise vs limp pre-flop. Does anyone have any links to good discussion on this subject? I looked but didn't find anything specific to micro-stakes?

Second, what do you do with passive calling stations when you have a wired pair and an overcard hits? IE. I was on the button with TT, there were 4 limpers, I raised, everyone called to see the flop of Q9x rainbow. Everyone checks to me and I bet, 2 callers the rest fold. Turn is a blank, everyone checks to me, I bet, 1 caller the rest fold. Repeat river and I lose the showdown to a pair of queens (Q7o). The guy never showed aggression just called me every card. Any suggestions what to do here differently, if anything?

I've seen quite a swing in my results to the point where I don't think any of the data is meaningful at this point. But i've gone from +10BB, to -15, to +50, to -70, to +80, and currently i'm at -15. I'm going through my recent hands looking for leaks but here are some of the relevant stats:
8391 hands
18.84% VP$IP
4.89% pre flop raise
24.16% VP$SB
82.05%folded SB to steal
73.81% folded BB to steal
9.33% att to steal blinds
31.54% won $ WSF
35.72% went to SD
47.04 won % at SD (ugh way low, i suspect i'm chasing some situations too much, looking for those now)
Aggression factor:
2.42 flop, 2.51 turn, 1.85 river, 2.29 total

Any thoughts would be appreciated. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[GrunchCan]

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First, I don't have a good grasp yet of when to raise vs limp pre-flop.

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If you're serious about poker -- and your presence here suggests that you are -- you need to start reading the literature. Start with SSH and ToP. SSH especially lays it out pretty consisely what your preflop action should be in most scenarios. Other than that, the only way to answer you question is to reply, raise when you have an equity edge or fold equity. Call otherwise if you have the odds to continue.

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Second, what do you do with passive calling stations when you have a wired pair and an overcard hits?

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The Law of Passive Opponents: If a passive opponent bets, they have a hand.

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I was on the button with TT, there were 4 limpers, I raised, everyone called to see the flop of Q9x rainbow. Everyone checks to me and I bet, 2 callers the rest fold. Turn is a blank, everyone checks to me, I bet, 1 caller the rest fold. Repeat river and I lose the showdown to a pair of queens (Q7o).

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I guess you were in position the whole way through. Given this, I see little value in betting the river. Check it down. Otherwise, nice hand.

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4.89% pre flop raise

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Much too passive.

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35.72% went to SD
47.04 won % at SD (ugh way low, i suspect i'm chasing some situations too much, looking for those now)

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You might be a calling station. In any case, you take too many losers to showdown.

[Twitch1977]

I use to have a pre-flop raise % around 5-6% then I just decided that every time I think there is a close decision between limping and raising I would just raise and live with it. Doing this brought my pre-flop raise % to just a hair over 9% which seems to be around the target area.

Of course as mentioned by the previous poster it's important to do some research and find out why certain hands play better in certain situations and how to use raises to increase your equity edge.

T

[Bunch]

first I want to say that if you are last to act on the river, check it down, no need to bet a marginal hand, he called you down. In 2 4 full ring......I raise aa kk qq jj ak aqs ajs (sometimes) and if it folds to me ill raise smaller pairs and black jack 20 hands. I 3 bet with aa kk qq aks, other hands if i have a read that the player sucks.