Fairly new as well (500 SNG's) but found ultra conservative early play seems to be prefered by the typical winning players. PP in late position not terrible but the less hands you play early the less likely you will get caught in the cross fire of a donk race. Also extremely tight play builds fold equity for late game play. Of course many good SNG'ers have learned to work the flop and navigate the donks but this play is probably not for the new SNG'er (even seasoned poker veterans new to the SNG's). Doubling up early is not as huge of an advantage as it may seem in the SNG's. It helps but don't under estimate the value of fold equity when the blinds get high.