Difficultly early in tournaments

It seems I always get down to about 10-20BB in a tournament before I start to win. In last night's CC ACR tourney, I was down to a hundred chips in under ten minutes. I felt like I was swimming up river the entire tournament just to finish in the top 20.

The first ten minutes of a tournament are always brutal to me. I don't think I play any different. I usually only raise with suited Ace, A/10o, high connectors, and pairs (of course dependent on position).

I think the problem is that I need a couple rounds to "read" my opponents, because I also have some trouble when I change tables.

Is there anything I can do differently when I don't yet have a read on the villains?

I find that if I try to play too tight early in a tournament, I get eaten alive by guys playing much looser early on when they have the blinds to try and make a move on much weaker hands. I try to identify and keep note of these individuals and how their game adjusts later in the tournament so I can find a way to exploit their play in future tournaments, as well as perhaps later in that tournament itself.

You just gotta play tight until the ante levels and then loosen up for some steals. Keep notes on players. Try to play your best poker with 100% focus.

One thing you want to be careful of over playing your hands early on. say you have aces and you raise and get 3 callers. Flop is 56J rainbow. You bet and both call. Turn a 9 and you bet and both call. AT this point is where you maybe over playing a hand if you continue to bet the river. There was no flush draw on the flop. 2 calls so what can they have. Sets 2 pair or even a straight. Even if the both have say KJo and you are winning, you still are pilling in a lot of chips with this over pair.A lot of players do this with top pair and loose a lot of chips early this way. B careful this is not you. Also dont over call or play to wide. Are you making calls with A2o or 75o or J4s? Yes you may hit something but you can bleed off a lot of chips this way. This was my issue when i had the same issues as you. Hope this helps.

It is always good to not bet too much at the beginning, it makes good poker sense and great math sense. No need to call someone raising a bet of 60 with 2500.

When you start out with a nice stack of chips it sometimes becomes too easy to try your luck early with a bet you soon regret. I'm talking about those hands that aren't top premium hands but certainly in your range if you were in late position, But, you get the hand in middle position. You can't can't resist betting and bang, the button smokes you with a huge re-raise. You fold and hope to get another hand. Do this just a few times and your stack has dwindled a bit. Now you get a little too cautious and try some limping...basically your bet-folding because you'll fold to any aggression.

What I described might not be what happens to you but since I see this play so often I'm guessing it has happened to you a few times. Stay focused on position and like others have said, be confident in your play when you have a hand and position....be the aggressor.