In my humble opinion A 9ft goldcrown would be easier to play on in comparison to a valley bar box, if you have run 71 on the tavern table it's a matter of time in that you clear 100 points on a real pool table. Bar box is more of a cueball game than it is a shotmakers game, breaking out a cluster so that another cluster developes due to lack of space is a little redundant I think. Because of the clusters and cramped space the tavern table does offer some additional challenges. But the bottoom line here is pocket billiards is a game of pocketing balls, and if a long shot is considered cuing up for a five foot shot then to me that is not pool. But if that was all I had to practice on I probably would.
Danny