As most people have read, there are both positive and negative instances in choosing to play a looser game. Many players I talk to play loose-aggressive the majority of the time, but from my experience, there are more and less optimal times to incorporate this strategy, mostly due to my bankroll limitations. Of course, there are many factors to consider, including the stakes you play, tournament structure/size, reads you have on people at your table and whether or not you can afford to push your table around depending on your stack size.
Many inexperienced players will look at pros such as Gus Hansen and Daniel Negreanu and believe that they can play any two cards and have the same results as these looser-playing pros. Unfortunately, they're not taking various aspects of the game into consideration and see hands, such as Gus's turned quads against Daniel's turned full house, and believe they can win huge pots with any two cards at any time with small pairs, small suited connectors and middle aces and simply can't get away from their hand if they hit any part of the board.
But these inexperienced players often fail to consider all of the factors relevant to the hand they are playing. They simply see pots online, or on the television, being won with marginal hands, at best, but see someone hitting straights with rag hands as Jamie Gold did on a few occasions during his run to the 2006 WSOP ME title, and think they'll have the same results.
This brings up the considerations I just mentioned. Sure, he got extremely lucky in many instances, but often did so when he got into a pot cheaply and obviously had the chip stack to afford the odds he was getting on hitting a hand. My favorite quote from a published poker writer is, "You have to get lucky in tournaments" and that is certainly true, but there are numerous factors to consider when you're sitting at a table and wondering when to start loosening up your play. So I'll share a few experiences I've had in different situations, depending on what sort of table/tournament structure I was playing, and offer my opinion on how to be successful in each category. Of course, the situations will be different at the higher stakes, but this is what I've experienced at mine:
Smaller Stakes Full Single And Two-Table SnG's:
I tend to prefer the turbo blind format as they obviously do not last as long as many players often go bust early, fearing the rapidly increasing blinds.
As the blinds increase, it's fairly easy to pick your spots to either keep an even stack, or pick up a few chips with a resteal after showing down a premium hand, because people will then believe with your preflop reraise, that you always have a premium starting hand, based on what you showed down before...if they are paying attention. In short, I don't recommend loose play in these types of tournaments.
Yes, some people like trying to double up early no matter what they are playing, and although it's obviously good to double your stack early, it's not necessary at all times. In these tournaments, it's reasonably easy to make the money by staying patient and waiting for good cards, because even if you blind off a few orbits, or multiple ones, one decent pot or double up, will get you right back to a decent chip stack. People are going to be shoving all their chips in regularly out of position with weak hands such as K-J, Q-J, K-10, Q-10, etc., whether they are suited or unsuited. This may sound like weak play, but it's successful nonetheless. Indeed, patience is a virtue, especially in these small tournaments.
Smaller Stakes 45+-Player SnG's:
I don't play these very often, but will if I have the time to invest. I only play the smaller stakes ones in this category because of the payout format. Usually, only the final table pays well, and even with that, only the top three or four spots are worth the time you put into playing these. The payouts can be very profitable, but one bad beat and you're out, or crippled. As for looser play in these, I only loosen up once I'm down near the money and in the money.
Many people talk about how easy it is to push your opponents off pots when near the bubble and that rings true in these. I find it easy to steal blinds from weak players in this situation, as long as you have been paying attention to your opponents and they're not in a desperate situation where they're in push or fold mode.
Small-To-Middle Stakes 6-max SnG's:
These are my personal favorite as it's quite elementary to win them, and therefore results in the quickest and easiest way to build my bankroll for the short time invested, especially when muliti-tabling them. Again, I prefer the turbo format in these as well, but I don't mind the standard blind structure at all since people seem to play them the same way, regardless of the blinds.
With these 6-max tables, I am an advocate for playing a looser-type style, at the right times. Many of the players have the mentality that they're only facing 5 opponents at the table, so they apply the any two cards philosophy, and you can take advantage of that. For that reason, since these SnG's regularly have family pots of players limping in preflop, you can often see a flop with such hands as low unsuited gappers and hope to hit without too much damage to your stack if you don't hit. Players lose their stack very quickly in these SnG's as well and as I said, all you usually need is for your opponents to see one good hand of yours at showdown, and it will allow you to get away with steals/bluffs after a few players go broke and you're facing a few limpers later in the tournament, as long as they've been watching your play and aren't the proverbial "maniac" players. The key is knowing when to loosen up your play.
All in all, playing loose is a situation/timing strategy. On one hand, if you're playing loose and hit your drawing hands, you'll be putting your opponents on tilt and that's a positive situation. On the other hand, if you tend to see a lot of flops early in a SnG with marginal hands, then you'll be risking losing a small or large portion of your stack. One large hit, or a few small ones, especially early in a SnG, will tend to frustrate you and leave you wanting to get your chips back as soon as possible, resulting in poor play. Stay tuned to your own emotions and how you are handling the game and your own play.
I play mainly at FullTilt and PokerStars and I'll be back with some other game formats I've played and my recommendations.