Middle tourney help

[bengele]

I am have problems getting a rhythm in middle stages of tourneys when my M is in the yellow and orange range.

This hand is an Empire 1+0. Average chips is ~3000. 70 left top 30 pay.

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t100 (10 handed) FTR converter on zerodivide.cx

UTG+2 (t3150)
Hero (t1705)
MP2 (t3944)
MP3 (t1383)
CO (t1230)
Button (t4349)
SB (t1405)
BB (t2787)
UTG (t1617)
UTG+1 (t2060)

Preflop: Hero is MP1 with A[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], 8[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img].
<font color="#666666">3 folds</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises to t300</font>, <font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, MP3 calls t300, <font color="#666666">4 folds</font>.

Flop: (t750) J[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], 7[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], Q[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
Hero checks, MP3 checks.

Turn: (t750) 8[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
<font color="#CC3333">Hero bets t500</font>, MP3 calls [t1083] , Hero calls t583.

River: (t1833) 6[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>

Final Pot: t1833

Is A8o too weak to open here? If so what would your opening range be?

[benneh]

don't raise A8o from MP1 unless you're sure you're gona steal blinds.

[Exitonly]

yea A8o is too weak there..

i'd open w/ [ATs+. AJo+, KQs, 77+, and maybeeee QJs/JTs]

if your stack was deeper, then thers a lot more you can raise with.

ya slightly less than what you need from MP1.. A-mids are really hard to play imo, need to be really sharp post flop, especially when an ace flops it's hard to tell if you're way ahead or way behind

[mayesie]

What has the action on the table been like? IMO, A8o is too weak to open from 4th position w/ your stack size. You'll have no choice but to fold if someone plays back at you. If an Ace flops, you'll be wondering if you're outkicked.

Depending on the table, I'd want at least AQ here. If the table has been aggressive, I'd want AK to be comfortable w/ calling an all-in reraise.

Save your chips for a better opportunity.