Online .5/1 tighter than 2/4?

[moot]

This has probably been posted before but oh well. And yes, my sample size is too small. Oh well. I'll get back to you after I've logged 500,000 hands.

Anyway...

I recently moved up from .5/1 to 2/4 (at PartyPoker), skipping 1/2 because I'm bankrolled for higher, and because I just don't like 1/2 (for dumb and illogical reasons). But that's beside the point, because I consider myself a good enough player to beat 2/4, and I'm willing to lose some big bets finding out.

Thus far I'm really liking 2/4, and the biggest thing I've noticed is that it seems MUCH LOOSER than .5/1. The average pot size (reduced to big bets) seems much larger at 2/4. At .5/1 I often find it hard to find games with an average of more than 7x big bets, but no so at 2/4. Overall I find it a lot easier to get find nice loose game were plays make rediculous errors.

The play in general just seems much looser. Often times at .5/1, though players are somewhat confused, most of them seem to have a somewhat decent understanding of poker logic. They seem somewhat willing to actually "think" in a hand. But not so at 2/4. The calls are just absurd. Yes, there are plenty of bad calls and bad players at .5/1, but not to the degree as 2/4.

Granted my experince at 2/4 is a bit limited, but nonetheless I wonder if it might actually be looser. This makes sense for several reasons:

1) True students of the game of poker tend to like to float around a lower limit, correctly playing within their bankroll. Since many of these so-called "students" have picked this up as a hobby, they will likely start at the lowest limit, building up a bankroll from scatch, and hovering at the lower limits for a while. This seems to suggest there might be a great clumping of decent players at the .5/1 PartyPoker.

2) Someone with a fulltime job who wants to play poker for fun and just mess around probably isn't going to play .5/1. It's just too small and they want big action and big pots. They can safely play something like 2/4 or 3/6 without a big dent in their yearly income (assuming they're playing recreationally and not every day for hours at time). Even bad players win pots; they're not going to lose it too fast.

3) Fans of casino play will likely want to play something that resembles the limits. No one plays .5/1 at a casino. They play 2/4, 3/6, 4/8, etc; often times in kill games. When they venture online they're likely to play at a similar limit.

4) The type of players actually willing to wait for a good hand and play tight are often the same players that like the safe plays. They don't like huge swings and jammed pots. They sit at the .5/1 with a few tables open and patiently wait, safely grinding it out. When they take a bad beat they lose 10 bucks instead of 40.

These are all EXTREMELY speculative statements, based on little solid evidence or research, but I still think they are worth considering and would like to hear others thoughts on the matter.