I think the biggest issue or fear I have with pickup is not the approach or the opener but after the ice is broken. As I know is it is up to me to entertain with words and if those first minutes don't measure up then it is crash and burn time. I know I am a reasonable conversationalist so my question is what direction, attitude or thread should one go with?

For example should the strategy be to act playful, focus on her, tease her and make conversation about her (i.e. pretend to guess her personality type or make assumptions about the type of person she is etc). Or should one be more circumspect and engage in more mature, broader conversation about current events, external environment topics and try and connect on a deeper level.

The thing is you can go a number of different ways after breaking the ice, but once you go one way it is difficult to change tact (i.e. if you go in circumspect it would be weird to change and start acting playful).

I believe that once you get past that "all important" initial conversation and she is hooked so to speak, then it becomes a lot easier because (if she likes you) she will start to contribute to the conversation and the threads will change naturally.

Any suggestions on this all important first conversation strategy?