Is it a good strategy to play very tight at the beginning of a tournament?... As is the case most of the time in poker, the answer is, it depends. This is due to the fact that poker, especially tournament poker, is highly situational. Indeed, higher buy-in tournaments ($500 and above) generally require a different approach then lower buy-in tournaments. I will deal with higher buy-in tournaments in the next two paragraphs, and lower buy-in ones after that.
In higher buy-in tournaments that generally provide higher starting chip amounts and longer rounds, it is often good strategy to play a relatively tight-solid game in the early rounds for several reasons. First, the blinds are relatively small compared to the average stack, thus stealing blinds is not highly rewarded. Second, you can't win the tournament in the early rounds but you can certainly be eliminated. So, you should be careful to not get into a situation where you make a big hand while playing a marginal hand, only to run into a real big hand! Third, you probably do not want to establish a loose or wild table image early on because that might make stealing in the later rounds, when the blinds are much bigger, more difficult.
Having said that, there are some advantages to playing somewhat loose in higher buy-in tournaments in the early rounds. This is mainly due to the fact that because the blinds are low relative to the average stack, you can see more flops and try to make a big hand without endangering your chip position much. Also, if you develop a somewhat loose table image early on, you can take advantage of that in the later rounds by continuing to “splash around” but now you will have the goods and are more likely to get paid off.
Lower buy-in tournaments should be played pretty snug in the early rounds generally speaking because the lower starting chip amounts do not allow you to see and miss a lot of flops, unlike higher buy-in tournaments. Also, because the rounds are usually shorter, the blinds rise a lot faster. Thus, you will be able to capitalize on a tighter table image by stealing the blinds sooner and more often. More importantly though, the blinds soon become a significant percentage of average chip stack in lower buy-in tournaments, thus, making steals far more rewarding.
Remember, there are a lot of variables to consider when deciding what to do in a poker situation, so keep your head in the game and your eye on the prize.
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