Early tourney tight or rush> which do you prefer

[ministaker]

Hi guys,

I'm new to the site. The posts I've read have been great.

I have a question about which you think is your preferred method of starting tactics in a MTT.

Do you prefer to play tight early until the blinds get bigger/wait for strong starting hands approach
or
Do you play hard early with the intention of getting chips fast or bust?

I'd be really interested if anyone has experimented with both strategies and found one they think is better over the long term.

Also anyone who plays a Tight start; at what point do you start shoving when your chips get low?

Cheers

[Looming]

The way you play early in a Multi-Table Tourney is relative to the cards you get and the action you are given. I have tripled my stack within the first 5 hands in the past but I have also made it through the first break (after 1 hour has elapsed) without playing more then 2 hands too the river.

The majority of my online poker playing is in Multi-Table Tourneys 6-9 handed with a field of between 100-400. These non-turbo tournaments allow for a lot of "play" and final table rewards can really increase your bankroll. But they key to these tournaments is relativity. If your playing a re-buy or turbo you tend to play a lot more and play for bigger pots. When you are playing regular tournaments you tend to be more patient and play small pot poker because you're in no rush and have no second chance to rebuy which explains why there is usually a smaller amount of pre-flop all ins.

What I'm trying to say in summary is that it's not really about preference, you should play your cards as you normally would; based on position, the kind of player you're up against, pot odds etc... But also take into account what type of tournament you're playing.

Hope that helps.