Although it's true that a lot of the players will play looser, and that penny tables can give you bad habits, it's still a good start for those who still don't know whether a straight beats a flush
.
Also limit penny tables are a different story than NL penny tables. I probably wouldn't recommend someone start at the limit penny tables, but would have no problems suggesting they start at the NL penny tables. It's easier to take weako players money at the penny NL tables and make them pay for their mistakes.
Regarding the habits and stuff, isn't this true in almost any of the 'baby' limits? Like some things that work at one limit, don't necessarily work at the limit above? And a lot of the time you're 'unlearning' what you just learned?
Cheers,
Gutzz