I have tried the more dynamic lookup suggested earlier with both a fixed table and the table variable. Interestingly enough there is not a significant difference in the timing.

For raw speed the verbose If statements wins over everything. The more convoluted select statement is next, followed by the Select then the function call.

A side note: I was challenged to come up with my own version of the type of "Max" function that SQL lacks - the max between two variables - and this employs that methodology. There are few places one needs it but if you do this is as fast as it is ugly.