Back when I was too young to legally play I played at UB's play money tables. I played there for a month or two. Reading super systems helped out a lot I went from 1k in play chips to 3 million in about a month. This gave me the confidence and set me on the right track of playing agresive and semi-tight. You dont need to lose thousands to learn poker. I was a winning player from the start altough I got very lucky that I did not lose my 100 BB roll since I had no clue about roll managment or any of that boring stuff they dont teach on ESPN. So keep learning and you will start winning!