There is a long debate on whether poker should be considered a sport? If we say that poker is not a sport, then we run the risk of thinking of poker as a completely mental game. Such a label suggests that if you are not constrained by any physical limitations, you can do whatever you want.
This is not entirely true. It is true that, unlike traditional sports, in poker you are not limited by physical attributes such as height or physique. However, you are constrained by the physical limitations that exist in the mind. If the structures of the mind have not been properly calibrated by countless hours at the poker table, then you are not physically able to play properly. Playing well means having the right, correct, complex neural patterns.
From a physiological perspective, there are two distinct strands of poker knowledge that are encoded in our brains. The first is what we normally think of as knowledge: wisdom based on facts or propositions. The second is the know-how type (wisdom based on procedures).
The knowledge based on the statements is something like "I should 3-bet preflop with KK." Know-how knowledge is our mind's knowledge of how to act. In contrast to statements placed in the mind to be called upon, know-how knowledge contains information about how to send signals to the neurons responsible for motor and muscle fibres, how to calibrate your movements and balance to perform actions. In basketball, for example, shooting a free throw is a form of know-how. You don't need to know some statements about how to make such a shot, such as that you need to jump up to a certain height or watch the ball roll in a certain direction. Your body learns these things automatically and translates them into know-how without ever having to make any statements about it.
The game of poker is also an area of know-how. As you learn poker, you get better and better, your brain builds a network of neurons to subconsciously coordinate your perception and motor reactions, just like in basketball. It's not so obvious because we never think of poker as a physical game, but that's what learning is.
If you play basketball, of course basketball theory can help, but the only way to become a proficient player is to develop your know-how perception, the inner body sensations that only come from playing consistently. Although systems can influence each other, basketball theory and practice are very different. The same is true in poker. The system in the mind that holds poker theory is structurally separate from the system that controls your game.
Poker theory is a conscious network that you have in your mind. You should think of it as a copier program that you have built in your neural networks. You've entered the information about all the hand variables into the internal poker theory program, so now it takes the information, digests it and spits out the answer for you. You practice and deepen your knowledge by talking about poker, watching poker videos, looking at other people's hands, reading poker books, doing poker math simulations, etc. Feedback from all these sources helps to calibrate the neural network of poker theory closer to reality.
As we discussed earlier, it is slow because it tends to go off course quickly and has to go through a lot of codes, so it is unlikely that you will use it for all the hands you play. But in serious situations, you will try to extract all the information available.
On the other hand, when we are playing poker, we are busy doing something completely different. We are not trying to 
recall propositional knowledge, facts about poker or even discursive processes contained in the networks of poker theory. When we play, we are empowered by know-how knowledge - our subconscious "muscle memory" system, which allows us to react immediately, to feel what is the right play, what the size of the bet tells us. We decide whether the hand is strong enough to call in this situation. This is called intuition. Know-how is what immediately moves our fingers when we press the button, fold on the turn or go all-in. Know-how is our perception of poker. The way we see J98 on the flop or hand AQ is created by our know-how baggage. For example, you immediately perceive AQ hand rationally - mathematics, hand pawns, poker theory or consciousness have no influence here. You just have a sense of how strong the hand is, how it works and how it should be played. Of course, you can add to your understanding by trying to mentally run through your poker theory, or by trying to figure out how AQ stands up against a particular range on PokerStove. But most of the time in poker, you're simply functioning with a perception that's backed up by know-how.
As you might expect, know-how is developed primarily through play. Just like in other physical activities, like swimming or riding. You can't acquire know-how by reading books or watching others do it. Poker know-how and subconscious reactions are trained exclusively through experimental feedback, whether it is punishment or reward.
Further, these rewards or punishments can be administered in daygbe ways, sometimes not very useful. They can come from a success or a mistake, but they can also come from a coach teaching you how to play or from your own inner critic. With each example, you only move further away from the true experience of playing poker. The more you activate your conscious mind, the less you train your know-how.
This is one of the key messages, and it begs to be repeated: the more a source is taken out of the context in which its experience should be used, the less the feebback coming from it will affect your behaviour.
So as we can see, there are two distinct poker systems that exist in our minds - the conscious system, which is connected to our poker theory and propositional knowledge, and the subconscious system, which holds the know-how and governs most of our play. These two systems are not only separate, but are also developed in completely different ways.
EN 
LT 
DE 
FR 
SV 
ES 
IT 
FI 
LV 
SK 
SL 
TR 