For me cash games are the best way to learn poker, because a chip is a chip, and stacks are usually 100BB deep, which allow a lot of turn and river play. But I dont recommend skipping stakes. Its best to start at the lowest stake, the site offer, and only move up once you are a winner there. On PokerStars and 888 you can start with 2NL, and maybe you dont need to put in a million hands there, but 20.000 should be the minimum, before you attempt to move up.
It could be argued, that you learn more from playing in tougher games. But for the majority of people I feel, that losing is going to be demotivating rather than jump-start their career as a high stakes professional player. So I highly recommend to play in games, that you beat, and only move up gradually. This approach also lends itself well to learning good bankroll management. You make a deposit once and for all, and then you dont move up, until you are bankrolled for the next limit.
As for freerolls I will play the better ones for sure, especially if I am on the site already. But I dont chase around from site to site to play as many as possible, I dont play at inconvenient times, and if the price pool is very low like 5.000 people competing for 500$, I will usually also pass. I did play a lot of the 3.000$ BLAST freerolls on 888 poker though and probably won tickets worth at least 100$.
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