weekly amateur tournaments are always good too. There's a thursday 8 ball tourney where i'm at that has a lot of high schoolers and the like. There's a rookie division, which is bar rules, best two out of three. Also a handicaped intermediate, ranked 3-7, which has full ball in hand rules and the like. Rookies is like 10 to play and intermediate is 15. This is how i really started playing serious. I began in the rookies, moved up to intermediates and won the first week as a 3. Now i'm up to a 5, and probably soon to be a 6 when i get back from school.
They start at 7, have players from 14-60, and all different levels. It's a great time and a good chance to play people you normally wouldnt play.