Switching from tournament to cash games.

I've been a tournament only poker player for pretty much the past year. When I play online I play SnGs or MTTs probably 90% of the time and just play ring games occassionally. But I'm not having much luck in tournaments lately, so I've decided to switch to cash games and see how I do. Most of yesterday I played $.50/$1 ring games at Full Tilt and seemed to do ok. Today I moved up to $1/$2 nl. I have some questions tho can any experienced cash game players help me out?

How much should I buyin for at a $1/$2 table? $50? $200? Is it better to play at a 6 player table or a 9 player table? I have 3k in my bankroll, should I be playing higher limits or lower limits or is $1/$2 fine? Is it normal for the level of play to be worse at a $1/$2 table compared to a lower limit table? When I play at the $1/$2 tables all the players seem to be extremely loose and poor players. I won a $200 pot against one player who bet into my two pair with ace ten high and called me all the way to the river with ace high, I couldn't believe it when he showed down ace high on the river. Whats the general best way to play in a ring game, tight or loose? I already know that in a tournament it's best to start tight and loosen up as the blinds rise, but what about a ring game where the blinds are always the same. What should I look for in a table before I sit down? Is it better to select a table with a high average pot (figuring the players are playing too loose for the blinds and you can take advantage by playing tight)? When I sit down should I wait for the big blind or post the big blind from any position as fast as I can? Thnx alot if anyone can help.

buy in for the max if you think you're better than the average player. reason is obvious, the pots will be potentially larger and if you're good you're going to be the favorite in those larger pots more often than not.

6max vs 9handed... well part of it depends on what you're used to. i'd guess you're used to full ring based on most MTTs being 9handed the majority of the time. 6max is better imo if you're good at postflop play because you simply get to see more flops and press your skill edge more. 9handed is fine if your main asset is patience

tight or loose? overall, whatever style you're most comfortable with and do best. situationally, you want to tend toward playing the opposite style of the rest of the table. if everyone is loose and crazy, tighten up. if everyone is tight, loosen up and rob them. obv you probably know that, just saying

what i look for in a table is big average pots and high % seeing flop, which both suggest too much looseness. also, if you have prior info on players, you want to be to the left of the loose guys and right of the tighter players. finally i try to keep from games with too many (like any more than 1, if it's 6max) shortstacks.. even though shortstacks are usually not very good, shortstacking even halfway effectively is fairly hard to exploit, whereas bad players with full stacks (and most players aren't very good in general) are easy to exploit and yield greater rewards

wait for the big blind to post. while you're waiting, watch the hands that go on and make any notes you can