Now this might be very strange or weird but anyone else out there with this.
I like to read about poker like books and like alot of them any free time I have I'm reading about poker so I can get good at it and watch poker alot but I dnt enjoy playing poker.
Anyone else in same shoes?
I've been in this situation at times in my career and I know what the issues were for me
1) Fear of losing
2)
gambling being frowned upon
3) Fear of not living up to my own expectations
The first had to do with both money, and the pain of losing. To address these I had to be willing to play smaller limits and also accept that losing some hands and some sessions is just part of the game.
The second wasn't a huge one for me, but i know many face it. It's not easy to engage in behaviors other people consider to be 'deviant'. And while studying is very highly respected in most circles, playing poker on the other hand is not, so that can be a block.
The last was actually a result of doing too much studying and not enough playing. After taking so many courses I thought I would immediately be a superstar, I didn't remember that to understand the concepts we must apply them and that at first we might not do it right. It's easy to read read read and feel like a genius, but when we apply it there's the chance we will lose that feeling because it doesn't work out perfectly.
Which brings me to #4 - FEAR OF MAKING A MISTAKE
Making mistakes is part of the learning process, and they are an essential step towards becoming a great player. Also, knowledge in mind never put into practice can actually be quite detrimental to your well being, it's stressful to hold thoughts in there and it feels wasteful to take up valueable mental space with thoughts that could be replaced with something else more applicable to daily life.
Anyway, I think a lot of the suggestions of playing small stakes so that the concepts can start to stick and make sense is a great idea. And, IF you enjoy playing, then training sites are a very nice and cheap way to learn and to also watch people play (which is one step closer to actually playing, whereas books are very far removed from playing). The cost of a training site is 1/5-1/10th the cost of private coaching and always worth it.
BUT, if you find when you actually play you don't enjoy it, then you can save a lot of time and energy by shifting your reading towards a topic that you actually want to practice.
Hope that helps!!! :icon_sant