I've used both of these strategies, and I've had varying success with both of them. Overall, I think I prefer the first strategy. My biggest problem with that strategy is after hitting NOTHING for a long time and watching the blinds increase and my stack decrease, when do I give up and open up my game? The difficulty of that decision alone has pushed me into using the other strategy (for the get go) many times...
For me, it realy depends on the tourney. For the WSOP this summer, I'll be going with strategy #1 FOR SURE. Why? Because it's stupid not to. With 10k chips sitting in front of me an $75 worth of blinds in each pot, it's simply not worth getting involved in many hands. This is why a lot of players show up late, cause it's just not worth being there for the first few levels. Sleep in. (Yes, I will be there for Hand #1)
For a 180 SNG on Stars, on the other hand, I HIGHLY prefer Strategy #2. In these types of tourneys, I think getting a big stack early is a huge advantage, so I'm willing to take some more risks (still cheaply, if I can) early. And if I get involved in a big hand and get broke, no big deal - it was just a SNG, so I'll fire up another one.
I think the best advice I have heard, at least for BIG MTTs is to use strategy #1 until there are antes. Then switch to Strategy #2. This doesn't work perfectly for all online tourneys (some dont have antes until very late), but I think it's still pretty good advice.
Oh, and I also HIGHLY recomment Strategy #1 for less experience players. You need to be a much better player to be able to handle Strategy 2 properly. Anyone can EMPLOY it, but you need to be a strong post flop player to have SUCCESS with it.
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