First, note that this is a hack, it's not pretty - and doesn't fix the problem, it just hides it.
What I've used is to set my mouse cursor to a completely transparent one, so that it isn't visible and twitching on my screen while playing.
Preparation
First, create a text file (call it something like transparent.xpm). Paste the following into it:
#define emptyCursor.xpm_width 16
#define emptyCursor.xpm_height 16
static unsigned char emptyCursor.xpm_bits[] = {
0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,
0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,
0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00};
Usage
Now, whenever you want to play, issue this command:
xsetroot -cursor transparent.xpm{,} in a terminal from the directory that you saved
transparent.xpm in. Note that this makes your cursor transparent, even outside the game. To reset this, either log out and back in again, or try starting the mouse configuration program for your desktop environment (the xfce4 settings manager, and then the mouse applet there for me), that might reset it back without relogging.
It's not pretty, but it works.
