[andyfox]

I've played a lot of 20-40, a tremendous amount of 40-80, and a fair amount of 100-200. The players, on average, are definitely better at the 40-80 level than at the 20-40 level, and definitely better at the 100-200 level than at the 40-80 level. They're better because they read better and are thus able to make plays that, at first glance, might appear to be -EV. But with their skills they are not.

Yes, some players at the 100-200 level don't raise with aces every time. They more than make up for $ they might be losing pre-flop with superior post-flop play and the fact that they've disguised their hand. Yes, some players sometimes don't protect their hand in order to make more $ later in the hand. No player is constantly raising and check-raising with nothing.

The games are more aggressive as one moves up in stakes, but the players are much better card- and people-readers, so they can make more "moves" and, since they realize that their opponents are better readers, they disguise their hands by sometimes playing the same cards differently and sometimes playing different cards the same. A good summation might be the difference between how 40-80 players play A-A and A-K vs. how 100-200 players do: it's much easier to tell when an opponent has A-K or A-A in 40-80 than it is in 100-200 because, usually, a 40-80 player will play A-K like A-K and A-A like A-A. Not so in 100-200.

I see lots of 40-80 players "taking a shot" in the bigger games. Most of them end up back at 40-80. Mostly because they can't read well and because they don't keep the good readers off guard.