Strategy In Harrah's NKC WSOP Qualifier

[DaMonsta]

Each month, Harrah's North Kansas City hosts a 10-table double-shootout qualifier for the WSOP Main Event. 100 people, $200 buyin, $3,000 in chip at prelim table, $5,000 at final table.

The caveat is the blinds, starting at 25-25 and moving up every 15 minutes to ensure the two five-table prelims are done in roughly 2 1/2 hours. It's a 12-table poker room, and they don't want to waste a lot of space on tourneys.

The question is what's a good strategy for winning your prelim table and moving on to the finals. I am consistently finishing top 4 but not top 1. By the time you are three-handed, the blinds are usually in the 1,000-2,000 range and the average stack is 10,000. It then becomes a free-for-all.

Do you have to be more agressive in the early levels, even though there isn't much out there to win in each pot? How much do you loosen up your starting hand standards?