Reply to Pre-mixing?

Hello DTT World!

First post so take it easy (don't you hate when ppl do that lol?) ANYWAY, I am just learning how to DJ so I got a tun of questions. I am a engineer/producer (not arranger) so obviously im not happy with just turning down the lows on deck 1 and crossfading to deck 2 to call myself a DJ (sorry if I offended anyone lol).

To the point- how uncommon is it to pre-mix a few of your songs/vs before going on live? Not like just a play though or anything but a full blow remix and just hitting play and maybe adding a few samples and filters here and there?

Like i said, im new to DJing and i just got Virtual DJ to play with for now with a basic Numark controller. Im not sure if its just Virtual DJ but 3 cues are not enough. My friend will be giving me his old Xponet and Torq next week; so im just playing and getting used to VDJ for now. Ive heard of Serato Live and that is pretty powerful; but at the same time, i see most of the DJ/produces I admire using ableton live?

Like i said, im a n00b so any help, threads, tips, pointers, ect would be of great value!

Thx,