I play mostly in NWIndiana NL 1/2. I used to buy in for $100, then $150 and now $200. I bring $600 with me and assume if I lose 3 buy-ins I'm not playing my A-game and I need to leave.
Question: Is there any value in buying in at $300 over $200 in these games? Even if it's still $600 max? I like the $200 due to variance but maybe I'm wrong. Opinion?
I see a lot of guys who short-stack although a good amount do buy in for 300.

It all depends on your roll and wich stack depths youre comfortable playing. My first instinct is that you keep buying in for 200$, as you seem comfortable with that amount and brings 600$ for 3 bullets to the game. Having a stoploss is perfectly okay.Being able to realize that youre not playing your A-game if youre down 3 buyins and leave- is an edge on its own compared to the playerpool. Selfawareness is huge on so many levels.

If you have a solid roll and when being honest against yourself feel like you have an edge buying in deeper- sure go ahead.

The reason i am mentioning this at all, is because its pretty common to see guys who are at best breakeven players and many are losing players buying in deep for like 150-200-300 BBs- when they clearly are scared money or dont have the skills needed to warant buying in deepstacked.

i definitely am scared money when I get up to $700 or so, I want to "book a win" all the time. It's a bad instinct. I always think of that Johnnie Chan, "if it's a good game why leave?" There are a lot of aspects of live poker i must improve in and that's definitely one of them.

Understandable, and a state of mind we all have been to many times. What that information tells me is that you should keep buying in for 200$ until you develope an even better game, on several layers- not to forget the mental aspect of it.

Then when the time is right and youre comfortably rolled you can start buying in deeper.

If you are a winner in the games and you are comfortable playing at 150bb stack depths, then I would always recommend the option that gives you more on the table. Being deep stacked with weaker opponents will drastically increase your winrate.

Yes, the last few weeks i've been involved in some silly good hands and tables and have regretted not having $300 for stack acquistion

More is always better if you're comfortable in the game. At my local casino there's 1/2 on weekdays and 2/5 only runs weekends. I always buy max at 1/2 but I buy in for 500 at 2/5 if there are players I don't know, even though max is 800. 2/5 plays a bit more LAG and I don't want to get involved in a big hand with a player if I have no idea what their style is. A ton of my experience is with 100BB because of online, so I'm more comfortable there. At 1/2 virtually everyone is passive and horrible so I'm fine with max (300) immediately.

great point, i always sensed you're right but never knew why it would jack up the winrate

Thanks you're obviously a better player than I but I am improving, this year is a lot better than 2016 (so far)

I think $300 is best. Not just for the obvious reason of maximizing value vs weaker players but also live games usually play shorter because the preflight raises are generally much bigger than you would see online or vs a lineup of better players. $200 v $300 can make a big difference if preflight raise is $10-15.

I've recently began buying in deeper, but weekend warrioring since January only translates to 125 hrs so with that caveat, here's my advice. It'll be a bit awkward in some spots, but move up. For one, if you still have shorter stacks at your table you'll still be playing as if your shorter. Secondly, and most importantly, you'll never develop without this exposure. If you want to get better, you need to get your feet wet. If you don't feel like diving in, consider walking the steps by buying in for $250, or simply increasing your stop cap if you have one. I mean staying at the table once you've increased your initial 100bb buy in. Stack someone? Keep playing for a few hours + with that larger stack.

Lastly, the difference between 100bb and 150bb is not that drastic. So far, I think the greatest adjustments take place after 250bb+ ES. How different will our SPRs be with 50bb more? You'll still find yourself mostly in pots with an SPR <10 unless you open less than 5bb and go HU a lot.