None of you took into consideration the blind structure. When the stack to blinds ratio is exceptionally high, you can play so tightly in the early stage that you might as well not show up for a while. If it's like FT's Midnight Madness, however, where the playing field is big, the stacks are short, and the blinds are big, you might have to go for some big pots early on.
Crap, I also just noticed the age of the thread. Hope everything worked out well for you, op.
