Correlation between skill level and proper tournament strategy

Reading a back issue of Cardplayer magazine, I re-read an article by Daniel Negreanu that got me thinking...
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Taken from Daniel's Website

[...] The button (another novice) called, and it was up to me in the small blind with the Qhearts 4hearts. Now, this is a trash hand with which you shouldn’t be calling raises here. So, of course, I called! This is where I think my approach may be a little different than some other tournament players’ approaches. In the early stages, I’m more than willing to take some extra chances, looking to bust some of the “dead money.” After all, on day one, you generally see more dead money than they do on day three, and I try to target those players if I can. If I don’t get that money, somebody else will.

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Now, I consider myself to be an experienced, well-rounded tournament player (with lots to learn, however), with lots of past experience and success. I've subconsciously implemented Daniel's ideas of being selectively loose in the early stages, and done very well with it.

Seperately, I've been teaching my dad how to play "proper strategy", and he is doing relatively well with it. He consistantly makes money, though is still at the point in his game where he believes that tight, agressive play is the only way to go. He can't understand how people consider Gus Hansen to be a good player (since the only hands he seems to play on television are rag-rag), only a lucky player. I've been throwing around the idea of explaining this concept to him.

My question to you all is this: more generally speaking than with my specific example, do you think that there is a certain level of skill that a person eventually elevates themselves to where their "proper tournament strategy" changes?

Thanks everyone!

[ZBTHorton]

What is "proper tournament strategy"?

There are different correct ways to play every tournament. So the answer to your question is obviously, yes.

[intheflatfield]

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There are different correct ways to play every tournament. So the answer to your question is obviously, yes.

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That was helpful..

I suppose I should probably define "proper tournament strategy" for this thread's purposes. By that, I mean the ideal strategy to take into that specific tournament in order to maximize profit.

[danger_mouse]

I think it is really hard to nail down one specific "proper" tournament strategy. Rather, what we think of as "proper" is really tournament training wheels-- Conservative, tight aggressive play that scales properly with the blinds. (Tight early, loose later).

However, in actuality, strategy should change markedly depending on your situations. I've been on tables where I played like a complete and embarrassing lag. I've played on tables where I've thrown away AQs against an supertight UTG min-raise. My strategy changes every single hand as direct result of who I'll be up against.

Tournament poker, IMHO, is about playing situations and playing players. Sometimes any two cards can win. Sometimes staying out of the line of fire is +EV. Sometimes you have to take advantage of small edges. Sometimes small edges should be avoided.

So I guess the answer to your question is yes.