Importance of pre-flop play

Poker is a game of skill... at least according to a number of studies done by various researchers world-wide. Luck plays into it, of course; but out of every conceivable way a hand could be played, there is only one situation when which of the 2652 different starting card combinations you were dealt have any bearing on the outcome of the hand: the Showdown. Which is why good poker players avoid going to a showdown as much as possible.
I had a hand this morning that reinforced Chris Ferguson's advice from FTPA... if a hand is profitable for a call, it is more profitable for a raise:
The game is a $2+.25 No Limit Hold'em SNG. We're on the bubble -- 4 handed, 3 pay -- and blinds are getting a little higher than I'm comfortable with: 80/160, and I've got 1600 after posting my big blind. UTG folds, Button smooth calls, SB folds, I check my 9-4 off suit, with every intention of folding to the first bet.
Until I see the flop. 9-6-4 rainbow. Just like that my hand o' crap becomes two pair. I lead out, putting 300 into the 400 chip pot, figuring I'm short stacked anyway, this is probably going to be my best bet to get my money in. I haven't played very many hands to this point, and I figure a 3/4-pot bet will either push him out or make the pot nice for me.
The Button raises to about 1000. I trip my time bank and think. Dude has played so many hands in the last two blind levels I don't think he even has a starting hand range. What I don't put him on are pocket pairs -- I'm pretty sure he would have raised preflop with 6s or better, and I figure odds are that he doesn't have 9s or 4s. Which to me means he has done one of three things: 1) paired the bottom half of his Ace-rag, 2) picked up a straight draw, or 3) is trying to price me out of the hand with 2 over cards. Best case scenario, he's looking at a 6-outer, that's about 76/24 in my favor. What don't I put him on? A 9-6. I've got to figure, even with him limping in, that my hand is good. So I push.
He quick calls, shows 9-8. This is good news and bad news. Good news is that there are 6 cards that could make his hand better than mine right now -- any 6, any 8. Bad news is that if a seven comes, he goes from 6 outs to 13 outs (28% to hit) -- any of the three remaining 6s or 7s would give us the same two pair with him having the better kicker, any of the three 8s gives him a better two pair, any of the four 5s gives him a straight. Now, if the board paired 6s on the turn, I'd be behind, but I'd have a lot more outs: even though only the two 4s would give me the win, I'd be happy with a split pot, which meant any of the four 10, J, Q, K, or Aces left in the deck would save my arse: 22 outs, or about 45%.
Good news was, I doubled up when the final two board cards missed both of us.
You could see button steaming through the wires, I didn't have the heart to tell him if he would have raised instead of limping, I would never have seen the flop.