My strategy for playing a “Steps” tournament

I am currently playing a series of  “Steps” single table tournaments at DoylesRoom. com in the hopes of winning an entry to the “Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic” being held December 14th – 19th at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.

I have already survived playing in five steps but am replaying step five as I came in fourth place. The way the steps work is that you win entry to the next step if  you win in first or second place. You win an entry to the current step if you win in third or fourth place. Fifth place wins you an entry into the prior step. This is true for all but the first and the last step. In step one, if you do not advance, you have to rebuy. In step ten, first prize is an entry to the WPT tournament in Las Vegas. Second place is an entry back to step 10. Third place is a $250 cash prize.

I almost always play extremely tight, only pushing with  hands such as AA and KK. In position, I also will play QQ, JJ TT, AK. If I can limp in without fear of being raised, I will also play suited connectors and small pairs hoping to hit sets and good flops to win large pots. My hope is that by playing that way, I will finish in the top five and not have to start over at “Step 1″.

Do you play in “Step Satellites”? What are your plans when you do so? Would you consider buying into a higher step to avoid having to start at the bottom?