We all know that to finish off a tournament one needs to become a ruthless beast of hostility, forcing our foes into constant pressure situations, and creating opportunities where they can make mistakes, and we can find ourselves finally at the summit of our event. There has been so much focus on how to take over tournament events towards the end however that it has occurred to me that so many players aren't sure how to navigate the initial steps at the base camp. That is how to begin a tournament rather than end it. After all, if you don't make it out of those early levels in good shape, you won't have any opportunity to breathe the rarified air in those late levels.

Let's take a look at a few ways that players can trip themselves up in those crucial early levels:

Overly Eager Early Aggression
Many players are so used to the idea that hostility is the way to go in poker that they fail to understand that there is a time and place for everything. I often see players begin big events by trying to steal blinds immediately and getting themselves into early trouble unnecessarily. The pots are small enough in the early going that rarely is it worth it to get into huge altercations at this point. It's best to leave the real fighting for when the pots are actually worth fighting over.

To start, one huge rule of thumb for my own play is only to get so involved prior to the antes coming into play; pots are just rarely large enough at that point to warrant making many risky plays. Those first few levels I often find myself routinely folding hands like A3 and Q6 on the button when everyone has folded to me. In the past, when I have played these hands, I have often either won a meager pot, usually with just the blinds at a point where the they are pretty inconsequential, or I will get involved in a big pot where I have a weak holding that I can't feel comfortable with.

Imagine that you hold that Q6 and are called by the blinds. Then the flop comes down Q 10 5. How are you going to be able to play that hand with any amount of comfort? Even though you hit your queen, it is susceptible to so many hands. Your kicker is so weak, yet often you won't want to let the hand go once you have been raised. Big trouble that early in the event. It's so much better to just let that hand go pre-flop with no damage to your stack whatsoever. I see this exact kind of play all the time.

At the $15,000 Bellagio Five Diamond event just a few months back I saw a player commit this sin on the very first hand of the tournament…against Dan Harrington no less, a player who is known for his usual solid and smart play. Everyone folded to this player and Dan, who were in the small and big blinds, and the small blind player repeatedly attempted to take the pot away from Dan. When all was said and done, Dan raked in about an 11,000 chip pot on the first hand. This all while the blinds were 50 and 100 chips! The other player never recovered and ended up going out in the second level. I rest my case. Just relax and let the game come to you in the early levels.

**Author's note: The below AK example is meant to describe a situation where the player believes BOTH of their hole cards to be live**

Most players will be chased out quickly by such an aggressive move this early in the event. They don't want to be knocked out early, regardless of the circumstances of the hand they are in. The bottom line is that these players aren't playing to win the tournament; they are playing to go broke the slowest. Don't fall into that trap.

Let's take a closer look at this specific hand: Let's say we put our opponent on a queen here, and assume they are afraid of the flush draw on the board. This definitely gives them the upper hand, at this point at least. There still is quite a high probability that the AK hand will wind up being best on the river though. So many players are so focused on the flush draw they have that they forget that their ace and king are probably still live as well. This gives them an added six outs to the already nine that they have from the draw, which gives them a total of fifteen outs. In my book that is easily enough to be able to make the call here.

Remember, these are the types of hands which enable you to get ahold of a lot of chips, and make yourself a factor later. Don't be afraid to make these big calls when you have odds in your favor early. You may be letting some amazing opportunities slip through your fingers early by letting yourself be scared off by big bets. There are times to be aggressive early and times when you shouldn't. Don't be spooked to get involved when the action warrants it early.

Tensing Up Early Because of a Slow Start
Many players can begin to tense up a little if a few levels have gone by and they haven't been able to improve much, and I have fallen victim to this bogus feeling before as well. In reality, the beginnings of an event are truly the times when a player can get themselves knocked out, but really can only make so much headway towards winning. Of course it's always a big plus when you can get out to a quick start, but it in no way ensures that you are going to be sitting at the final table.

You need to be able to wait out those poor starts and give yourself a chance later when you get your shot. If a few levels have gone by and you haven't made any headway, don't overreact and start making moves prematurely. That is one of the surest ways to get yourself knocked out quickly. It's important that you don't fall into the trap of feeling like you need to make moves just to be doing something.

At the Bellagio events a few months back I found myself hanging around the same amount of chips for the first seven hours. You read that right…the first seven hours. Tim Phan came up to me later and made a comment about how I didn't need chips at all…until the end of the tournament. This is the right mentality to take if that's the situation you find yourself in, and it served me well in that event. I went on a huge rush towards the end of the day and just narrowly missed out on the final table, finishing 10th. Whenever I begin getting frustrated and feeling like the field is passing me by early I always think of this day and let it calm me, and my play, down.

As I said earlier, it's always nice to jump out to a huge start, but it's not required. You need to learn to assess the situations independently and decide when they are worth getting involved and when they aren't. Sometimes it's correct to push the pedal down to the floor, and sometimes it is right just to sit in the slow lane and wait until your spot comes. Either way is playable and you can't let yourself being forced into one for a while shake you off your game.

Of course these are just a few of mistakes that we all sometimes make in the early stages of events. There are undoubtedly more that I haven't mentioned and probably some specific ones that you may be committing. As with everything else in poker, you need to figure out what works for you in the first couple of levels and play that way. Don't fall into the trap of trying to emulate a specific player's early style when you might not be able to pull off it off.