Tight is always the best way to play in the early stages. Not only does it give you time to watch and take notes on everyone at the table, but figure out the math.
3k start stack.
Option 1: You play a wider opening range, seeing a few more pots than usual, but nothing is hitting great. After 30 hands, you're dealt AA, with a shove in front of you. You have 2400 in chips, you double it to 4800 when you win the hand.
Option 2: You play tight, waiting for a premium hand. Same scenario, but this time your stack is 2800. You double up to 5600.
Which one would you rather have? Obviously you could be winning the pots with the wider range of hands, but they will generally be smaller pots. You'll rarely have the implied
odds to bluff, (the pot size won't be big enough to warrant a bluff), so you have to play hit or fold poker.