Am I the only one that's mightily impressed that Sir Viver has stayed in character in this thread for days now, without once posting from the wrong account.

Not necessarily.  But is a game of small edges, and almost every time we're playing, we're getting raked.  So not only do we have to be profitable, we have to be profitable enough to cover the rake % just to stay even.  And there are going to be times you can't control the pot.  So either you intentionally fold the best hand to avoid risking that stack, or you stick around and sweat it out.  there will be times you get coolered or outdrawn, so you kinda need to make whatever you can to offset it.  So it can be the difference between winning and losing.  "Bad" is subjective, but you won't be as good as you can be.


If your main intent is to survive as long as possible, then playing it safe probably accomplishes that on many occasions.  So if that's your main goal, it's a means to that end.  But a better solution (if possible), is to have a buyin or 2 behind in cash, so that busting doesn't end your day.  In a tourney, you obviously have to make some concessions to stay alive.  However, "hanging on"  might get you to a certain point, but it rarely gets you close to the end.
 
This whole concept kinda reminds me of a girl I knew.  She had a problem with panic attacks and claustrophobia.  In order to combat this, she was prescribed a drug called Paxil.  Now it did the job, but after a time, she began to realize that mood altering drugs were a double edged sword:  The lows of your life aren't so low, but then the highs aren't so high either.  So she was giving up some of the great joys in life to avoid the occasional lows.  

That's kinda like what we're talking about with the overcautious play here, too.  You're saving yourself the downswings and beats (to a point), but you're giving up the big pots and big wins to do it.  I guess you have to decide for yourself if it's worth it.