Limit cash games - why bother with tourneys?

PokerStars gave me $5.00 on the condition I play a real money game by tomorrow. I just found out about this offer tonight - having not checked my poker e-mail all week - so I quickly logged in and played 15 minutes on the micro limit cash tables. I ended the session up $0.43 which effectively means I got a 50% return for laying $0.80 at the table. Does that sound right?

The graph from PokerTracker for this session is a stark contrast to my tournament results.


Okay, so it's only 15 minutes and 20 hands. Not enough to draw any conclusions. What's more, it's the first time I've left the table ahead of my start position. Usually I play until I'm back to even just to ease my conscience.

I wasn't keen to walk away when I was ahead but i wasn't the first to leave the table. You know, the first table I tried, as soon as I sat down everyone else left. So I shouldn't feel bad.

Anyway, even if over time I find I can make money at $0.02/$0.04, I doubt you can live on the proceeds. From what I've read, higher stakes gets a lot harder.

It still makes playing tourney's seem like a waste of time. I don't know if I'll ever get back to zero playing tournament poker let alone make $0.40!