Hey Phil

This is a pretty vague question. I litterally could write a book trying to answer this. Its like poker site what table what tourny dependant.  Just to simplify the best I can. If your getting alot of callers pre early. Its because your so deep. So I always try to make my raises much bigger in early stages of tournys ill 5x. Where later on I am mini raising. That for starters might get you some isolation action. Also as a general rule my range for playing hands early in tournments is much much much smaller then after say antes are introduced into the game.  As for betting patterns not even sure what your asking. Can you be more specific?

RonFezBuddy said:

Phil, the best way to approach this is to post some hands that illustrate the concepts you are having difficulty with.  Like big dog said, there are so many topics to cover they could go off on a tangent that is not related to your question.

This

Is it wise to play a suited connector, say,  5 6 suited, in the early stages of a tournament with 2+ callers?  Assume the pot has been opened already 3x BB, and you’d be the 3’rd person in.  I can just see so many ways to lose a lot of chips with this type of drawing hand…  I’d like it in a cash game, but I’m not sure about it in a tournament unless i’m confident the other players are REALLY bad.  Even when you make your flush on the turn you can still go busto with a bad river card.  And if you miss your draw on the turn, the bet you’re going to have to call is going to be enormous.

Think about it, in a 5 way limped pot with 600 in it, (each calling 120 preflop), the preflop raiser (assuming he has a hand) or anyone else is going to be betting about 455, or more, into this pot.  Assuming you’re the only one who calls the flop because of a heart or straight draw, theres now 1510 in the pot.  When you miss your draw on the turn, if he 2 barrels you, you’re probably going to have to give up on the hand unless you are both pretty deep.  But if you started the hand with a starting stack of 3000, I don’t see a reason to be getting yourself into a situation even half as bad as this….  

So, in a nutshell, personally i’m folding any small suited connectors to a raise preflop, and I think it might be a leak in your game (Someone please correct me if i’m wrong, I’m not a pro, but this is my train of thought on the subject).  Larger ones like J 10, Q J, or K Q i’ll play because of the added value of making top pair, but even then, I play them slow and am ready to get away.