Play tight or loose early in live MTTs?

Curious as to what the majority vote is on this. I am a tight player overall, so I play very tight early in MTTs when the blinds are low.

Am I doing it wrong?

I actually play rather loose early on.

The main reason being is that the blinds are really low & you aren't risking a whole lot of chips to see a lot of flops.

Loose in position, tight oop....unless its a super passive table.

Im not really sure why so many live MTT players are completely oblivious to position, but it sure is hillarious to watch them limp again and again in EP.

"It depends"
It depends on the structure (how deep of stacks we're playing, how fast the blinds increase).
It depends on how the others on your table are playing.

i am normally quiet tight in the beginning watching around how the other players are doing there risky bets, when i am in position holding a good hand i will see the flop, having a monster out of position it is a clear bet (3-4 BB)

When the blinds increase fast then you have to be more aggressive. In live events it is important to represent good poker not limping every pot!

React to the table dynamics. If I notice a table with mostly fit or fold type players, or players that are generally easy to read, I am playing very loose.

What is the usual blind structure? Can't ever be really be faulted for being tight, but if you have over 100 BB then you do have some wiggle room to "dabble" a little bit early on.

I like to play tight earlier then if my chip stack is deep.I like to play more aggressive later especially around or near the bubble when peeps tighten up to make cash outs. Or if I survive and make final table, I'll tighten up some until the table is down to about 4or 5 peeps, then be more aggressive.

start at 25/50. 20 minute levels. No antes. 10k starting stack

Most of the time, folks like to see a lot of flops early on where I play b/c it is so cheap.

200bb's deep. By all means try to see some flops with them - - be happy to ply speculative hands (that have potential to flop (& play) well in multi-way pots)... ie. 54s, 97s, AXs, small pp's. < hands you're hoping to get paid off well on when villain won't let go of overpairs & TPTK/ TPGK type hands.

Well you have plenty of room to loosen up in the early stages - BUT (and this is very critical) you have to #1) know when and where to back off and #2) have the discipline to do it. Everyone's comfort level will be different, but I would have no issue dedicating 20% of my starting stack (40 BB) to some dabbling, speculative type play early on. I don't necessarily mean limping along with the crowd though. If I get down to 150-160 BB then I have to shut it down and go back to being tight. That can happen through play or it can happen by the blinds going up - either way it's a black and white situation. Slam on the brakes and go tight. That can be just one hand gone bad or it can be an hour. MOre than likely it will be by blinds going up.

Now you don't say what the blind structures are - but I am willing to bet my stack that after the first 20 minutes the blinds just doubled - which means you drop from 200 BB to 100 BB - so basically there will actually be damn little time and very few hands you will be able to do this with.
Keep an eye out for the players who cannot get out of that mode - fish alert.

Accumulating chips in MTT's is an art form and different players have various ways of accomplishing this critical feat...early in tournies when i am deep stack i like to play LAG because of the huge implied odds i am getting for playing speculative hands (small to medium pairs and suited connectors).

definitely loose am start, while the blinds are small and you can play more hands and catch more pots with LAG

Tight aggressive is always a reasonable starting strategy - but if most players at the table are subscribing to the same strategy, loosen up.

i think most of the best tourny players will agree that you should play a little looser early, tighten up in the middle and loosen up again as you try to i would be happy to explain why this works best in the long run if you care to

i like to play tight at the beginning.not super tight but """tightish"""
i play any suited ace,any suited connector,any pocket pair. and i play them aggresively but i fold everything else.
i dont even bother trying to steal the blinds cause i could care less to win a 60 chip pot. only start stealing pots when blinds are 75-150 and above.
i will raise ANY two cards everysingle time if its folded down to me on the cutoff btt or sb

And who is in on this agreement?

LOL.LMFAO. and yea,who is in on this agreement?

tight or loose both OK, if you are able to build a very good stack early stage!

for what its worth, i tend to play somewhat tight early, but really depends on the table and structure

For me it depends on the table.

Think that deep you want to loosen up your range to get in hands with the really bad players before they get knocked out.

Most guys I play with play loose early. From what I understand, you want to do the opposite of tye table, right?

play as many hands as you can earlier on in the stages, because once the blinds are up you have to tighten up and pick your spots..

early in their will almost always be players donking about,many of them will be the better players but some will be the dead money. very important to be ready to go right from the 1st kick.that means paying real close attention and figure out which is which. always have a plan for any hand you play if the price goes beyond your plan there will be another right quickly. but if you dont donk about now you are most likely committing yourself to playing tight all the way which means you will probably be short when its winding down unless the deck jumps all over you. my theory is get good or get gone. just remember if you do get good do not get superman mentality and piz it all back. there is a break peddle as well as gas. works for me anyway

The general idea which I'm sure has been mentioned is you have to feed off what the table gives. If you can understand this then it pretty much defines how you can adjust to the structure/players.

I am generally a pretty tight player. The last couple MTTs I have tried to loosen up early while blinds are small & just don't get the cards &, lately when I try to steal, I always pick the wrong spot.

Play the opposite of what the table majority is doing.

20 minute levels though, and I'm guessing the next level will be 50/100. If you're really lucky you'll get 75/150 next, but a lot of places will jump straight to 100/200 after that.

So in less than one round of the button (if you get 7 or 8 hands into a 20-minute level you're doing well) that 200BB starting stack will be cut to 100BB, then maybe 50BB before the end of the first hour.

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with the above strategy per se, just that you won't necessarily get very long to apply it.

i have herd of people playing both ways. but personally i like to play a little tighter in the beginning but maybe a little looser in positions reason being high risk generally low reward.

After 50/100 it goes to 100/200. Sometimes it can be about 7-8 hands per round, but other times more if no one gets cards.

I am surprised how many of you answered playing loose early is ok. To each his own.

I like to let the donks do what they do early. I try not to get to committed OOP, or with marginal hands.

However, I recently played a live MTT where everyone was playing ultra tight early on. I chose to exploit them for this. I raised wide from LP and stole quite a few pots post flop. You can build up a decent stack at the right table.

But if you get to carried away, someone will trap you and you will wind up crippled.

In general I play very tight early on, and wait for good spots. There will be alot of multiway pots (regardless of a LP raise) in most tourneys I have played. Bad players playing badly. People are calling OOP with tiny suited aces and all that. And they seem to catch often
when there are 4 of them in the hand with you.

It all depends on table. Tight play early on is my general opinion.

Edit:
The blinds are small, so risking your stack to win small pots might not be the best move. You can't win a tournament in the first hour.

I don't think anyone, at least I'm not, saying rick your stack early. I recently got JJ early. Blinds at 100/200 & someone raised to 925. I re-popped him to 2,500 & he shoved. I felt he had AA so I folded. He showed AA.

Anyway, I generally play tight overall, but very tight early & never seem to be able to build a stack lately.

I really like your views on poker and you seem to be a pretty great guy

What is tight? It seems we may have different definitions. I think I would fall into the category of an extremely tight nit in some games.

However, it seems lately that if I make one mistake (even a little one) it costs me every time. Yet there are people playing sooooooooooo bad at my table and they just keep hitting limping OOP with Q-7 suited.