Early stages of tournaments

Is it ever worth it to be aggressive early in a tournament. Seems you either get a small pot or lose a big one. With hands like A K, if you raise 3 or 4 times blind and then don't hit, what do you do? Continuation bet and you could lose a nice chunk of your stack. Hit the A and you could lose a big chunk if someone hit A plus his kicker hit. I'm just finding it easier to fold early where I use to play a lot because of the smaller blinds. I think tournaments are decided in the mid - late levels as the average stacks get closer to 10-15 blinds. Anyone think you can make any significant gains early in MTT's?

Is it ever worth it to be aggressive early in a tournament. Seems you either get a small pot or lose a big one. With hands like A K, if you raise 3 or 4 times blind and then don't hit, what do you do? Continuation bet and you could lose a nice chunk of your stack. Hit the A and you could lose a big chunk if someone hit A plus his kicker hit. I'm just finding it easier to fold early where I use to play a lot because of the smaller blinds. I think tournaments are decided in the mid - late levels as the average stacks get closer to 10-15 blinds. Anyone think you can make any significant gains early in MTT's?

Sure, in most tourneys I've been in, there is a group of folks that want to double up early or go out. Also, the early double up enables you to take more chances and play more marginal hands.

Is it ever worth it to be aggressive early in a tournament. Seems you either get a small pot or lose a big one. With hands like A K, if you raise 3 or 4 times blind and then don't hit, what do you do? Continuation bet and you could lose a nice chunk of your stack. Hit the A and you could lose a big chunk if someone hit A plus his kicker hit. I'm just finding it easier to fold early where I use to play a lot because of the smaller blinds. I think tournaments are decided in the mid - late levels as the average stacks get closer to 10-15 blinds. Anyone think you can make any significant gains early in MTT's?

You just need the mindset all i have to do is win 3 or 4 big pots in the first hour. If you do that you will be in the thick of things. Just stay patient and wait for the right moment. You can be aggrassive after that first break when things get more serious.

You just need the mindset all i have to do is win 3 or 4 big pots in the first hour. If you do that you will be in the thick of things. Just stay patient and wait for the right moment. You can be aggrassive after that first break when things get more serious.

I agree with that. After the break, play def. gets more aggressive, you better be ready to play not expect to be able to chase draws cheap. Seems the later you get in a tourney, the less post flop play you see.

Yea u gotta be careful in the first stage of a tourney dont worry about the guys with huge stacks and try to catch up to them in the beginning just play responibly and and you should see things changing for the better after the first break though sometimes you'll still find really loose payers after the break but keep an eye on them and eventually people wil start playing right

I dont like to play agressive in the beggining. But I like to be loose.