Instead of playing for play money at a site go to http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/poker/index they usually have some promotion that they are running like a seat to a world series of poker. Competition is a stepup from play money since you are actually playing for something. Another option would be to play free rolls or micro limits like 2nl. Which is where i started in 6 weeks after espn poker i started with 2nl BR $50 and now at 25nl BR $720.