Game Selection: Money on the table.

[ QUOTE ]
I suppose it matters how important your hourly rate is to you and how strong a player you see yourself as. I just started playing 2/4 no limit about a week ago, and from my experiences thus far, the lesser the stack, the more green the player. Furthermore, even if the player is solid, chances are he is playing with scared money. What is even nicer is that many of these players will then come back with more $$ after they lose. $100, reload $100, and then maybe throw in $80 for the night. Yes, I've done this. No, it's not the wisest of options. But then again, I'm not the wisest of players.

Now, at these smaller stack tables, the trade off is that the pots aren't going to be that big because a lot of these hands, I find, don't last much longer than after the flop. So, that will probably affect your hourly rate in some significant way; this is so especially if you feel that you can outplay good opponents who like playing big pots through the turn and river.

Every so often in the small stack games, you are able to find a green who comes in with $150 or so and wants to be Phil Ivey. A lot of the time, they think that being Phil Ivey is raising lots of hands preflop. Unfortunately, most of the time, they don't have a [censored] clue what to do once the flop comes out. Some easy money can be made from these guys without signficant risk to your (Ansky's, not necessarily mine) bankroll.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is why I tend to take the approach that I do. I dont sit down with the max buy in, nor the minimum, usually double the min or half the buy in. If I can project an image of weakness with that alone, good for me, I'll show my strength later, after I've doubled or tripled up.