My personal advice is to practice on the kind of surface(s) you'll be performing on.
If you're used to a soft surface, like a close up pad, and then you end up performing on a wood table, you'll run into issues. Little issues mostly, but things that can disrupt your flow in performance.
The flip side of that is that if you're used to using a table and then have an opportunity to use a pad, you'll be fine.
Personally, I practice on all types of surfaces. I actually have a big close up pad that's pretty nice (The Ellusionist Colossal Close Up Pad), but I rarely use it. Mostly I'm on a wood table with a table cloth on it (ie: my dining room table)