I play often against a close friend. We have been playing for years. When we started, he slaughtered me every game. However, what he also did was show me how to play better. Instead of just destroying me he would become a narrator of his own play (a bit like Bowen tutorials). He would focus on things like drop catches and helped me get the timing of them, then live catches, dead bounces. He would play games where he would dead bounce every shot (even off angle stuff). It didn't hurt his play, but improved mine drastically. It wasn't a competition, it was buckets of fun. I'd take what I learned and try it when playing alone. It made me the pinball player I am today.