Poker Forum by Poker is Rigged

In a strategy book i bought, hellmuth says only to play the top 5 hands or the majority hands if you are in a good position. He says then you will sail into the middle stages of a single table tourney and let the amateur aggressives get knocked out.

However i end up going against my opponents with a small stack, i wondered how others played the first stage of the tourney?

Early stages, I usually play mega-tight. Only play premium hands, pairs, AK, AQ, stuff like that. Once the blinds move up, I usually get more tricky and start bluffing when the situation is right.