1. Just because other (losing) players make mini bets...and they occasionally work, don't do this yourself. Really, you have nothing to gain. Play tight early on and don't risk your chips against foolios when you don't know where you are at (ie, play hands for top pair value when you can get it heads up, or play hands for straight/flush/set value multiway, but with position and not every hand). Protect your stack.

The key to 2 is to identify what player's traits are...what bets they can call and how they play hands...and play your strong hands like they play their weak hands...and get maximum value. Figure out what your opponents have and value bet the [censored] out of them.

In pushing, don't go overboard. Harrington's M=5 rule, push with anything decent, is a little overboard for Party's 800chip SNG's. Pay attention to what people will call with...and pay attention to how often you are pushing. Push with great hands and show them.

As far as trying to steal with nothing on the blind, pay attention to how people play. In the lower buyin Party SNG's, there are not that many people who will limp big hands. Watch how people play...if they think they are coy and never limp in early position...then all of a sudden limp on your blind on the 100 chip bb, don't do it, but if they limp all sorts of Ax crap...or have previously limped and folded to a standard raise, don't be afraid to push here. The worst is that you'll be called by a small pair or Axo by weak players, and you'll end up risking a bunch of chips with 97s vs A8o.

If i'm in the sb and you min raise me from the bb, i always call, unless calling is a significant portion of my stack. If you autobet the flop after autoraising preflop, I will figure this out quickly and take advantage of it on higher levels (in other words, you may take advantage of me on 50/100 blinds, but i'm gonna run over you on 150/300 blinds for way more chips). That's just me...and people don't win money on SNGs by playing against people like me. Still...raise your good hands from the blinds, fold your crappy hands (unless you have position or good reads on your opponent), play poker with your medium hands.