I'm going to start grinding 1/2 and then try to move up to 2/5. However, I would like to practice online when I'm not at the casino. It's close to an hour away.

Is there any place online for US players that mirrors the game play of live 1/2 and 2/5?

5 cent / 10 cent mirrors the "tough" 1/2 game.
2 cent / 5 cent mirrors the "average" 1/2 game.
1 cent / 2 cent mirrors the "drunken" 1/2 game.

The online game will always be tighter than its live counterpart in large part due to multi-tabling. Most players at $.05/$.10 are more aggressive than the average 1/2NL live player as livegrinder said above. Players online tend to be more positionally aware as well.

What's your skill level now? what have you been playing that made you decide it's time to grind 1/2NL?

If you are "grinding" 1/2 and live 1 hour from the poker room, you really aren't going to have a lot of time to play outside of the live environment. Even going 4 times a week with 10 hour sessions implies at least 48 hours of involvement.

Instead, use that spare time to study.

Which site still allows US players? I heard Pokerstars and Full Tilt stopped accepting them.

Is the online game so different that it's not worth it to practice there for live play?

I want to practice with lower stakes before jumping into 1/2 NL live.

I made a living playing limit poker before UIGEA. I played for around two years. I multi-tabled 2/4 and 3/6.

I played some $10 and $25 buy in NL on Pokerstars after UIGEA but not enough to really learn the game. I think I made a profit. I can't remember because I lost my Poker Tracker database when my computer got a virus and died.

Yeah, it's been a while since I played a lot of poker but I will have a huge bankroll of around $20K-$25K by the end of the month because of a business deal that went through.

Basically, I worked for someone to build up a website. The site grew quickly and he sold it. Part of our agreement was profit share and if he sold the site, I would receive some money from the sale.

However, I don't want to work for him anymore because it's kinda stressful and not really enjoyable for me. The biggest reason is that I don't know if I can replicate that success. I feel like I got lucky to grow the site so fast.

Until a site makes a profit above my salary, I only make $10/hour. It's more enjoyable for me to work on my own sites but I need an income stream while I'm doing that because it will take time to build up my own sites.

1 / 2 NL should make me at least $10/hour and then I can move up to 2/5 NL as my skills grow.

Good point. Maybe I should just jump in and play 1 / 2 NL live since I have a huge bankroll. It seems like I can afford to lose some money while I learn the game. And the games where I will play (Winstar) look fishy. I sat for a few rounds on time at a 1 / 2 NL table because the limit table was taking too long to fill. People were calling two raises all in with QJs lolz. And someone would raise like $6 or $8 and multiple people would call.

Also, what do you mean by "study"? Reading books and posting hand histories?

I'd start with the COTM series in this forum and the COTW series in the micro full ring forum. Read one per week. Think about how you'd apply it to your game. Don't just stop at the OP, but read all the responses. There's a lot of subtle things to pick up with NL.