10 Table Tourney

[imported_CHoldsworth]

I was recently at a live 10 table No Limit Holdem tournament (started with 1000 chips). The blinds went up every 15 minutes, and quite aggressively (eg. Once we hit 100-200 we went to 200-400, to 400-800, to 600-1200, etc.)

My tournament started out fairly well. For the most part I stuck to Sklanksky's hand groupings, and pretty much ran over the first table I was at. I found myself with a large stack compared to those at my table, but a medium stacked when compared to the rest of the field. When the time came for me to move tables, I found myself with about the middle stack.

Once I got to this new table, I couldn't catch a hand if my life depended on it. The only hand I managed to catch was AK, and ended up splitting the pot with another guy w/ AK. I ended up on the short stack as I began to get blinded away, and by the time I got moved to the 2nd last table, I only had about 3000 chips left, with the blinds up to 1000-2000. Suffice to say, it didn't take long for me to go out (14th out of 93 ... not too bad, but still disappointing)

I feel overall that I didn't play horribly, but that perhaps I should have been more aggressive at the second table I was at. For the most part, this table was tight-passive, with a couple of loose-aggressive guys, and one tight-aggressive. Should I have been trying to steal on the button with say, hands like J7s (and a medium-short stack)? Should I be loosening up when the blinds start getting out of control?

I'm really kind of stumped as to what exactly I should have done differently when the cards stopped coming. This has been a trend for me the last few tournaments I've played (start out strong, stop getting cards, find myself with short stack and get blinded away).

Any advice?