Early tournament strategies?

[SaintAces]

Beginning tourney player here. I was just wondering what you strategies are in the early rounds of a NL tournament. Assume you start with 400 chips and the blinds are 5-10.

Are you loose and agressive? Do you play only top ten hands? How do you play those early rounds in a tournament

[MadSci]

5-10 blinds is sort of a fast start with 400 chip stacks. I think 5-10 with 1000 chip stacks is more common.

Anyway, I play really tightly early, and I am very willing to fold as the hand goes on. When I get something on the flop or turn that is good but vulnerable, I try to force people out rather than trap them. Extreme example: Party sng, 6 see the flop, I had t9s,got KQJ rainbow on flop. Went all-in, for 10 times the pot. Everyone folded. I was releived.

O.K., that brings up a point about very early, like stacks 50-100 times the bb. At that stage, I look for chances to limp with speculative calling hands, like 64s, 22, t7s, Axs, etc, because there are huge payoffs possible relative to the bb size.

Mostly, avoid trouble. You can't win early, but you can lose early.

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

Do you play only top ten hands?

Depends on a) position and b) what you define as the top 10 hands.

[JohnG]

The early aim is to accumulate a big stack, and your strategy for doing so depends on the dynamics of the table.