Early stages of tourney

Ok guys,

Was just wondering how most of you play early stages of tourney, when the blinds are low and you can limp in with practically nothing?

Well, I play tight early and open up a bit as the tourney moves on, and get more aggressive as the blinds go up. However, lately I havent been catching anything early tourney and always find myself in the bottom 100 or so players. Now I know they say a tourney can only be lost in the 1st hour, not won, but in the last 10-15 tourneys I cant remember once being in the top 10 early stages.

Last night instance, I played 2 hands in the 1st 45 mins and went out. 1st hand I played was 77, low stack goes all in, I call he turns over KK, flop is 66AK7. So my lower FH goes down. Fair enough

Next hand I play is AK and managed to double up my now low stack to 1,500 when called all in by AQ.

My last, fatal hand is K6. I am BB, two callers I check. Flop is A K 6. I check, one guys bets, another raises, I go all in with my low stack, figuring no raise pre-flop I cant put my opponent on AK, worst ways they have A-rag

Player 1 turns over AQ. player 2 has K J. Player 2 obviously doesnt know WTF he is doing and I go in as fav.

Turn 10, River Q.

Now sure I can accept the AQ call, but the worst hands takes the pot (dont they always!).

So I played 4 hands all night, lost with a FH, 2 pair and pocker 66's

I feel I played ok and just got outdrawn but would like to know how you guys play early tourney. I am sure you all play slightly different but wondered how the aggressive players (or those who limp in with nothing with the blinds low) faired early in tournaments

I tend to see a lot of cheap flops early on and try to catch the hand to acquire a chip cushion. If I get lucky and build a good chip stack I get very tight in the middle stages and only play the best hands. As I get towards the end, when the blinds are significant I then loosen up again and try to steal/catch. Played one on Party last night with exactly this strategy and it worked perfectly. I made some hands when the blinds were cheap and built a good cushion. I don't think I played another hand until I got to the final table and then went back to a more agressive style. Was chip lead for a while but lost about 2/3 when I flopped top 2 pair (A-Q) and a calling station caught a third 4 on the river. Ended up third which is OK with me...

I'm probably the polar opposite of you then - i'm frequently in the leading pack in tournaments (some quite big ones), but don't seem to get to the end. In reality early gains are pretty irrelevant - in later stages average bet is $2,000+, and it probably took half an hour to get to this amount in the beginning. What a larger early stack gives you is protection against one or more bad beats, and avoids you having to play desperation hands when short stacked. I try not to play TOO loose, but if everyone is playing tight towards the beginning, then you can make hay in early stages. Problem is of course that 20 hand's worth of wins can dissapear in one go in later stages.

Way I look at it Colin - I'd rather suffer those bad beats and be thrown out in the first 10 minutes, then after 2 hours!

I like to see flops cheap early and see if I can hit something. I then like to tighten up once the short stacks are forced to go all in and you have to be more carefull of a reraise all in. I will then loosen up right before the money. It is a good time to steal blinds etc. because everyelse tightens up to make it to the money.

I am not usually the chip leader after the first hour, but I stay in the middle of the pack. I tend to make my move up the board in the second or third hour because I can save those throwaway bets when someone else goes all in and you are forced to fold. I get my money in on the hands I will see to the river.

I like to sit back and pick at my fingernails, once the blinds become a good size ig 50-100 or above i become aggressive, and will raise with moderate hands...beware when using this strategy...you have to know the oponent you are betting into.

I like to see a lot of flops as the blinds are low.
Sometimes i go do something else (which is normally pointless) and wait for lots to go out.
This works well on PokerChamps as they go out so fast.