thanks for the responses!!

i'm not a beginner, i just am really shocked at all the luck in the short-term. as someone said (very valuable comment), you probably do need a couple of huge suckouts to win a 150-200 person tournament. OTOH, i don't think winning those suckouts is sufficient to win or place very highly. i've seen guys get to dominant cheap leader thru risky aggressive plays and luck, but then they don't practice money management and eventually get taken huge.

regarding my comment about no one ever raising without something really good, i meant a strong made hand. no one seems to raise AK, AQ. not even sure they'll raise QQ. they want to see the flop, but if it's low cards, you won't get action. if it's ace, then you're in big trouble potentially.

two other things about raising online. alot of people seem to use 2x raise which is already in the box (my site). they won't seem to raise 3-5X ala harrington.

and people never seem to adjust too much to the higher level of blinds. they still think we're at 20-40 blinds, when we're at 500 big blind. never ever see 1500 raise at that level of blinds unless someone has nuts or close to it.

people barely raise until the turn/river anyhow and at that ppoint you should have folded or have good idea you beaten (or occasionally be able to go "over the top"!!!)

bear in mind, this is online at my site. B&M (or home) no limit tournaments have been alot more difficult.