Best Strategy for stars 180man sngs with early chip lead

[TripDaddy]

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If it is still early, then you should be neither bullying nor defending. You should be trying to limp in often with speculative hands though, and even calling raises when the price is right, because you will get paid off when you hit. Don't try to push anyone around, just take your draws when you have the odds and get paid when you hit. Continue to play your big hands aggressively, but don't try to force any pots or push anyone off a hand. The time to do that will be in about two hours. Right now, just use your cushion to see a lot of flops and try to keep accumulating.

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I tend to agree with alot of this. Since you have a large stack you can see ALOT of flops, especially when the blinds are 25/50 ish or even 50/100. Stay agressive, but I still would not run any big bluffs. During the first 2 hours you will see all sorts of silliness. Yesterday in a 180, I had a guy call me on every street when I had AK and he had 88 on a board that was KJ4Tx. I raised PF, bet 1/2 the pot on the flop, 1/2 the pot on the turn, and he even called my river bet of 600ish (leaving himself with 400 behind. He had 4th pair!

Trying to bluff early in these is fruitless. Just play good solid poker, see alot of flops and keep building....

[Mi_T_Sharp]

I completely agree with this. I wouldn't start bullying this early, because against all of the donks left in the field, you will most likely just end up losing your chip lead to some guy who calls you with A3o. Plus, the blinds are so low at this point that there's just not much to steal. Instead, I would get involved in more hands than usual while the blinds are low and try to flop monsters. Of course, you can steal a few pots here or there, but I wouldn't go crazy just yet. Wait until people are scared of busting on the bubble before you start to go too crazy. At this point, just be willing to play some more speculative hands. And, make sure you are able to get away from them when you need to.