.01/.02 Betting strategy

I have found that when playing microlimits, the standard show of strength pre-flop (4xBB) does not seem to deter weak drawing hands and ultimately will end up costing me when these weak draws hit well. What would be an appropriate show of strength without driving everyone off pre-flop? It's difficult to increase the BR 3 cents at a time when pulling only blinds, but very difficult to judge strength when the table is willing to call a 4xBB raise.

For instance:
PokerStars Game #2418821854: Hold'em No Limit ($0.01/$0.02) - 2005/08/25 - 09:42:26 (ET)
Table 'Siwa II' Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: somrh ($2.09 in chips)
Seat 2: 10pntbuck ($1.90 in chips)
Seat 3: ejdewey ($5.25 in chips)
Seat 4: easu ($2.25 in chips)
Seat 5: karó sætust! ($1.11 in chips)
Seat 6: Helcul ($4.35 in chips)
Seat 7: MBEEZIE ($1.19 in chips)
Seat 8: RottenRodney ($1.77 in chips)
Seat 9: Roast ($1.94 in chips)
easu: posts small blind $0.01
karó sætust!: posts big blind $0.02
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to ejdewey [Kh Kd]
Helcul: calls $0.02
MBEEZIE: calls $0.02
RottenRodney: calls $0.02
Roast: folds
somrh: folds
10pntbuck: calls $0.02
ejdewey: raises $0.06 to $0.08
easu: folds
karó sætust!: folds
Helcul: calls $0.06
MBEEZIE: calls $0.06
RottenRodney: calls $0.06
10pntbuck: folds
*** FLOP *** [8h 3h 2s]
Helcul: checks
MBEEZIE: checks
RottenRodney: checks
ejdewey: bets $0.40
Helcul: folds
MBEEZIE: raises $0.71 to $1.11 and is all-in
RottenRodney: folds
ejdewey: calls $0.71
*** TURN *** [8h 3h 2s] [As]
*** RIVER *** [8h 3h 2s As] [7d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
MBEEZIE: shows [2d 3d] (two pair, Threes and Deuces)
ejdewey: mucks hand
MBEEZIE collected $2.49 from pot

I should have taken the hint on his reraise, and thought maybe he hit trip 8's but wanted to see what he had called with. I would never have guessed he would come in with 32s, even 88 seemed like a stretch after a strong (or so I thought) pre-flop raise. This is just an example of beats I have had with bad hands catching a flop I never thought they would buy into. Have I missed something?

I know that .01/.02 is fishy, and prefer .05/.10, but I'm trying to stabilize my BR at the microlimits so I can afford the variance at .05/.10 more comfortably.

Thank you,
Eric

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ejdewey

even 88 [calling] seemed like a stretch after a strong (or so I thought) pre-flop raise.

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Haha. Sorry man, I had to laugh at that one. You call 4xBB all day with 88. Especially if 4xBB is .08 cents. If you don't then something is wrong with you. I hope you do so yourself.

To answer your question, it's standard to raise 10-15 cents if you're going to raise. Don't worry about giving hand strengh away. You'll get callers at this level from people who just don't give a shit that you're holding a high pocket. What you don't want is 5 people who don't give a shit calling you. One of them holding 23 offsuit.

Also, only raise real good hands at the lower levels Eric. Loose tables are what you call post flop tables. You put your money in when you hit a flop hard because the implied odds are so high it's like fertile fruit. Limp all day and explode on hard flops. That's the name of the game down there. Don't be raising AQ offsuit to 15 cents preflop in middle position unless you really believe you'll get some isolation. The problem will still be that you're isolating calling stations, and you can't represent a flop. That's why its better to only put money in with made hands on loose tables.

Trust me. You'll make a killing on these tables if you just limp and hammer-limp and hammer