Hey Kickboy,

Sounds like a good plan to stay tight early - my personal experience of the WSOP and EPT steps is that the lower levels are attracting a lot of recreational 'any 2-suited' types which leads to its own strategy adjustments...

Understanding equity models (ICM) and how to adjust to the Steps payout structures should give you a significant edge in these games.... for the first few levels you need to assume opponent calling ranges are super-wide compared to the equivalent SNGs, at the higher levels expect your opponents to understand ICM well and be actively using this.

Did a series of articles on the Party Steps, based on both the equity models and adjusting to 'extra bad' opponents... the numbers are slightly different but the principles the same: for the WSOP steps you need to start at 'part-2'

Party Poker Steps SNGs | A Guide to Steps Strategy - Part 2

GL at those tables, Mark