Bodog Observations

1. I played in a 6-handed No Limit Hold’em tournament. UTG raised two-thirds to three quarters of the hands. Is there some strategy article to playing 6-handed that I’ve missed the past couple years that says to always raise UTG? I felt like I was playing with a bunch of fish that always raise on the button at a full table. I’ve heard and like the strategy for 3, 4, or 5 handed games but I think it’s a bit of a stretch to do it all the time in a 6-handed game.
2. I noticed that some players are using the auto-raise button to send out misinformation. Normally at the stakes I play and with the fish I play, when someone uses the auto-raise button, it’s because they have a big hand. Pre-flop they are often good for queens, kings, aces, and sometimes ace-king. After the flop it could indicate a set or two pair. What I’ve been noticing though is that players in late positions are using it when they have draws. Often someone will bet in an earlier position with say top pair. The person in late position auto-raises. This screams monster hand to the original better, but that person calls anyways because of the cheap price to call a minimum raise. Then the original better checks the turn if it doesn’t help. Then the raiser has the option of continuing with his monster hand bluff or checking and getting a free card to his draw. It seems to be working well for these players especially against passive opponents and is something that I might toy around with to see if it’s worth adding to my arsenal.
3. This isn’t really as much of an observation as it was a thought I’ve been toying with. The goal of poker is to make as much money as possible. There are three ways to go about this. The first is to maximize your winnings with the best hand. The second is to minimize your losses with the worst hand. The third is to force your opponent to fold the best hand. Using typical tight and aggressive poker, you are putting yourself in good situations to do these three things. However, if you are a good player, are you really maximizing your winnings? The reason I ask is that even crappy hands such as deuce-seven off-suit win a certain percent of the time. Every time you fold one of these hands because you are playing tight you are passing up on this 5% or 10% or whatever chance of winning. However if you play a controlled loose strategy, you aren’t just giving yourself a chance to win with your 60%, 70%, and 80% hands but also giving yourself a chance to win with the 10% ones or the 20% ones.