[Blarg]

You are definitely just "taking a shot" at it, not really moving up in a particularly sensible or organized way, if you are moving to 1/2 at $350. You are well short of a real bankroll and could easily go broke.

That said, there's nothing wrong with taking a shot. Hardly anyone hasn't tried it at least once. Impatience is human nature.

The exporting notes feature in Pokertracker is the favorite feature of the whole program for a lot of people -- and we're talking about a program with tons of virtues, almost all more obvious than this one. You can get very detailed stats on what your opponents did street by street, how aggressive they are, what they raise with, how often they put money in from the blinds and how often they defend the blinds - so many useful things, and many more than I just gave an inkling of here. I wouldn't be surprised if all the "board heroes" here use Pokertracker.

If only to feel fluidly comfortable with terms like VPIP and WSD and PFR and such that are the true currency of a board like this, the $55 cost is worth it. As soon as you can afford it, I would get it. Heck, if it were me I would get it before moving up levels, without question. 100%.

As to $1/2, the play still sucks quite often at $1/2, but it is, at least at Party, a relative oasis of calm in a sea of craziness. You'll probably find both .50/$1 and 2/4 seem very loose in comparison; most people seem to, and I sure did. Expect that if someone calls you to the end on your AK offsuit or your pair of 9's, you'll lose more than you are used to losing at .50/1 and more than you will probably lose at $2/4. Also, expect that you might run into a few players actually seem to have a brain and a reason behind their playing. You can't run on auto-pilot quite as often as .50/$1. As you move up in levels, you bump into more realistic players and have to watch out and not play quite as mechanically. Against total fools you can do almost anything and still be ahead in the long run, but you value your money and sanity more each level as you bump into more people playing not just for entertainment.