@raising limpers: http://www.flopturnriver.com/pokerfo...rs-152850.html

@playing short stacked: theres a section or two in "No Limit Holdem Theory and Practice" that covers this nicely. Its a great book, and theres currently a beginners examination of it going on. If you dont have it/too cheap to buy it, then there is likely a topic about it on twoplustwo.com. Gist is this: Playing shortstacked does have certain advantages, and it is certainly profitable. However, playing with 100bbs or more is likely best for learning how to play this damn game. Also, if we have an edge on our opponents than we want to have more money on the table. Getting AA vs KK doesnt and taking 50bbs isnt as good as taking 100bbs ya know. Playing against short stacks really only comes down to range analysis and understanding how their effective stack changes the actions your allowed to take.

@beating loose passives: no, they arent very good at all. Someone who runs 35/5 is bad for a worse reason than you running 19/10. Big gaps means they do things their unsure of alot. They call too much oop or without initiative with weak ranges (bad), they likely open limp (bad), and they likely stack off too much with dominated hands (bad). Beating them simply comes down to understanding board textures, their range, and their tendencies. More often than not, theyll have alot of dominated hands in their ranges, so exploit that by having the hands that dominate them.

Theres quite a few threads in the beginners digest at the top of this forum that have some good info in them. Read a few, and dont be afraid to post hands where you have trouble. Just make sure to convert them first (via ftr's converter or something like weaktight.com) and provide reads and such and ppl here will be glad to help u out.