Cash games or tournaments?

[DevilToad]

hello everyone! This is my first post here so please dont hurt me. I tried a quick search before posting but couldnt find any threads related to my question.

The day before yesterday i finally succumbed to the craze that is online poker. Armed with a chart of starting hands and odds, as well as a quick flick through of 'small stakes poker winning big' by ed miller et al i took $20 into the micro stakes limit games on poker stars and after stupidly losing 60c in the first half dozen hands managed to find find some discipline and turned the overall session into a small profit.

Today i felt a little tired and not up to playing for real money but noticed that they do freeroll tournaments for small cash prizes. So i entered one just to see how id do and came 200 and something out of around 1800 players netting me 10c in prize money, hey free money can't be sniffed at.

So now im a little confused as to what i want to do, i really enjoyed both formats, ive played a lot of home NL holdem STT games over the past couple of years with mates so im no stranger to the whole NL tournament thing although i am new to limit cash games. My original plan was to try and get good at limit cash as thats where i thought there was less luck involved and more steady long term profit available but if i can play freeroll tournaments no matter how slim the pickings are i get free experience and if im paying nothing i get 'infinite odds' on my investment no matter what the prize money is. If you've read this far on this rambling first post then i congratulate you and summarise my questions below.

1. Will it hurt my rate of learning if i attept to play both NL tournements and limit cash games at once?

2. Which would you recommend to a beginner, micro limit cash games or micro buy-in/freeroll tournements? Which would give the best 'learning experience'?

3. What are the advantages and diasadvantages of limit cash and NL tournement in general? Which is it better to be 'expert' at and where does the most money lie? Are there any transferable skills between the two?

4. Finally id be happy to accept any other advice you could give to a new online like myself.

Thank you in advance for any replies!