Early chip leader...

[MVPSPORTS]

[flafishy]

Oh, I stay supertight in this situation, but when I do get a hand I want to play, I make a lot of noise with it.

[briachek]

agreed. Stick to the plan because you want to conserve your chips when there isn't much point of stealing pots because they will be small. Later, you can find yourself in a better situation when you have to make decisions for big chips since you have some room to work.

[Stoneburg]

The more chips you have, the less you have to worry about. This means you can play tighter. Most people seem to loosen up once they get their hands on some chips and start squandering it, don't. You're sitting pretty with 30% of the chips at the table, no point in risking anything, just wait for the hands.

This also means that once the blinds become significant, you'll have both a big stack and an über-tight image, perfect for stealing.

[Sunbob]

I have to agree - keep your tight style of play. If you get another KK or AA type hand come out with all guns blazing then go back to sleep.

When the blinds get up to where you would normally shift gears (usually 50/100 for me) than wake up again and start playing. You will be in a great position with chips and a read on the table.

[SideSwipe]

Yup, I tighten up too and go into cruise-mode until down to the last 4.

At such early rounds though, I'll play every now and then when it's still very cheap to call compared to your massive chip lead.

I'll play medium suited connectors or any suited ace in LP in an unraised pot. If the flop doesn't fit then, I drop the hand.

That way, I can often knock out at least 1more player, when I do hit a monster hand.

Then when it gets down to the last 4, then it's up a gear.

When I first started playing SNG's and I'd get into the chip lead, I would get 'arrogant' and try to bully players around. For example, when my big slick would miss out on the flop, I'd try to bully them off the pot. So what happened is I ended up trickling away my chip lead to be dragged back down to everyone elses level.

So sitting tight till 'gametime' works a lot better now.

SS