that's too bad, we are going to put a game room in our house, which will of course include a pool table...Right now unfortunately all i have for practice is the bar in which i play for, and other bars of course, but more comfortable people wise in the home bar.
Although for the most part it is a competition of sorts, I try not to let it get too bad, i think if i became that serious and no longer looked at it as a fun time out of the house, then i'd probably have to quit the tourne's, but right now, just really enjoying it.
There's a practice that a friend of mine started me on, perhaps you've heard and/or did yourself...upon each of the holes you line up two balls behind each other, not side by side...in the middle where the rack would go, you place the last 3 in a triangle formation. You start from anywhere on the table. Try to hit the balls in with the least amount of shots, and if you scratch doing so, you add 2 pts each time...sometimes i do really good, other times, well, just suck!