The money difference between 1-2 and 2-5 where i play is not much different, because the max buy in in 1-2 is $300 and the max in 2-5 is $500, but the stacks do get much deeper in 2-5, which makes it a much bigger game. The players are 1-2 are obviously worse, which makes it slightly harder to win in 2-5, but in general the players are still pretty bad in general in live 2-5 full ring games (at least where i play anyways). So if you play a solid TAG style, you should consistently crush 2-5 after moving up from 1-2, once you get comfortable with the money difference, which is pretty big. I had a $70/hr win rate after my first 800 hrs of 2-5, which is much better than the $17/hr i was making at 1-2. So while the players may be slightly better than the 1-2 players, the dollar amount you are going to win is so much higher.