Anyone have any suggestions for seriously practicing hold'em without risking real cash to begin with?

I tried play money games, but they don't seem realistic at all in that everyone (or atleast 50% of the table) always stays in all the way to the river showdown pretty much every hand.

I then tried a freeroll tournament at PokerChamps, which seemed about the same. Basically I was seeing people going from 1000-5000$ to zero in 3 hands. People going All-In every round got old fast.

Lately I've been spectating low to mid stakes NL Holdem tables at PartyPoker, which seems ok, but playing would be better.

Any ideas?