Caro's Book of Poker Tells by Mike Caro
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Book Reviews of Caro's Book of Poker Tells
Book Review: look deeper...and you will "get it"
Summary: 5 Stars
It is hard for me to imagine anyone not getting excited about this book. I remember reading it several years ago and then going to the "Commerce Casino" in Los Angeles and watching the table come alive for me. At the time it was the most transformational poker experience I had had. I still think it is absolute must reading for most players. I would not be near the player I am today if I had not come across this book and integrated it into my game.
The reviewers who think it is outdated or "garbage" need to look a little deeper to get true value from it. I am not being condescending here, I am offering a personal opinion...Yes, it is outdated in the respect that it was written at a time when only draw poker was being played in California and the photos are obviously dated as well. And the dollar amounts associated with tells are completely out of context in today's game. Forget about that stuff.It is distracting but it is not the point. Even the somewhat generic tells that everyone is now familiar with are not the point.
The point of this book is...it gets you thinking about more than just the game. Tells are very real and very abundant in almost every game. I use tells in every live game I play in and I promise you they are every where up until the higher middle limits and the tough no limit games. Use the book to think about tells not so much in "exactly" what Caro shows you but as a baseline for behavior. Most of the best tells are not in this book! You need to look for them and this book lays the foundation for looking for tells. Consider it an introduction to the science of tells not the encyclopedia of tells. It will become fairly basic to most good players pretty quickly, but if you study this book you will begin to spot even more tells on your own that are not even in the book. The top players studied this book at some point in the early part of their poker learning and then moved to more advanced tells and betting patterns. But most if not all of them started with this book; you should too.
Book Review: Will bring your game to the next level....and beyond
Summary: 5 Stars
I have been playing NL poker online and limit poker in casinos for about two years. My preferred game is single table tournaments and after a year of success online I decided to put my skills to the test. This book really breaks down the art of poker (that is, the ability to read people)into simple categories of tells understandable and recognizeable by anybody. Armed with my technically sound online skills and my newfound ability to understand the motives and intetnions of other live players, I journeyed to Atlantic City to try my first ever live tournament. My first tournament ever...I finished in first place at the Borgata. I played in one more tournament and took 2nd place. It may sound unbelievable, but with a bit of luck and a powerfull arsenal of reads on common poker tells at my disposal, I walked away with over $10,000 on a total investment of $200. I am not saying that this book will win you the world series, but it will give you a huge edge over your competition. The reason is this: Without a knowledge of tells, you really only win the pots that your cards dictate. Yes, you can play better cards than your opponents and avoid trap hands, but with a knowledge of tells, you can win 2 types of hands. 1) you win the hands your cards dictate. 2) you win the hands that your oponents cards don't merit. If you can pick up weakness in your opponents, you can win pots just by betting or raising at the right moment and salvage a pot where you might have folded. Similarly, you can better identify when your huge hand might be second best. Caro breaks tells down into 2 main categories. Tells from actors, and tells from those who are unaware. The most important are those from Actors. It is Caro's contention that all of us act at the poker table and in life, it is instinctive and largely subconscious. If you can pick up on these signals, discern what the player wants you to do, and then do the opposite, then you can truly, truly dominate the competition. This book is a MUST HAVE for the serious poker player.
Book Review: A handy tool if you use absorb it and apply it
Summary: 5 Stars
First off, this is an older book that does not cover online games. If you only play online, pass on this book.
I've read a few poker books so far, and all of them have mentioned this book as "the" book to read on poker tells. Since pros were recommending this book I decided that I needed to pick up a copy.
This is the only poker book I've read twice.
Caro's book contains just over 20 tells, with a chapter on each tell, it's variations, and how to exploit it. It also gives a reliability scale for each tell which shows how effective it is against beginners, intermediates and experts. Surprisingly, beginners and experts are about equally vulnerable to some tells.
Caro shows that there are two types of tells, those from people who are unaware, and those from people who are faking the tell (actors). He gives guidelines on how to help determine if the tell is real or just an act.
I laughed out loud several times because Caro would come to a tell that I had. I found myself saying, "I do do that!" or, "Hey, my buddy does that!"
That being said, tells are not the Holy Grail of poker. Nobody can look at another person and instantly know they're holding a pair of Queens. Certain behaviors make it MORE THAN LIKELY that someone has a monster hand, or is bluffing, or doesn't want to be called. It doesn't guarantee it.
Even if you can put someone on good cards or bad cards, at a full table you'll rarely be in a position to exploit it because you have to worry about the other eight players and the strength of your own hand.
Also, some tells only work for draw poker, so if you only play Hold'em they're not directly applicable.
Over the long term I'd say that if you really sat down and studied/digested this book it will add about a 3% to 5% advantage to your game. More if you play against amateurs, less if you play against good players.
Book Review: Poker's Most Profitable Information
Summary: 5 Stars
Honesty and respect compell me to write the following review of a book that I truly wish had never been written.
Mike Caro is one of poker's greatest writers and most innovative poker thinkers. This book does the seemingly impossible job of giving even casual players simple, easy-to-understand information about how to tell whether their opponents are strong or weak -- just by looking at their body language.
The book describes and provides revealing photographs of players in the process of betting -- demonstrating what their body language reveals about the true strength of their hand. In doing this, Caro reveals that which many of us would have prefered he not reveal -- the otherwise secret clues about player tells.
In some respects, Caro has done professional poker players a disservice. It took many of us decades, and expensive lessons at the school of hard knocks, to learn this stuff. Now, in simple prose and with easy-to-grasp photos, Caro reveals all to anyone with the good sense to buy this book.
There's another unintended consequence of this book. So many players have read this material that they are learning to disguise their own tells -- throwing off the poker predators like me who used to know what these tells indicated. With so many people falsely showing these tells --we pros have less and less of an advantage over the well informed amateur.
That Caro did this before the huge poker explosion and that the information is just as valid today as it was when he created this book many years ago is typical. That he did it so well -- making this information available to so many people in such a clear and simple format is -- well, maybe criminal.
Begrudgingly, this book has my very highest recommendation.
Book Review: Great Book
Summary: 5 Stars
There is a big step from reading a book to applying it to your game, and many people that gave this book a bad rating were instantly expecting to see 100 tells from every opponent on every hand. Tells are rarely obvious and it takes concentration to find them. This book taught everything from card motions to body movements, and it all works. The same weekend after I finished reading this book, I was in a very large no-limit hold'em hand that came down to fifth street. I had a very weak hand and was prepared to throw my hand away to any large bet made. The person across the table did just that, trying to present a strong hand. There was an easy straight, and an easy flush (four consecutive cards on the board and 4 cards of the same suit) on the table. I watched him closely to see if I could spot any tells and I instantly saw 2 of the more subtle tells that Caro addresses in this book. I instantly called his bet and he showed only ace high and I took down the pot. I can honestly say that if I had never read this book, I would have folded that hand and lost quite a large amount of chips. This book has helped me many times in making the right calls in the most important situations. Anyone should read this book, the pictures seem pretty outdated but they do a good job of giving examples. Read this book, it will teach you a lot.