Others say...

"Wish I hadn't bought it: Great message, poor delivery"
This book promises a wealth of information but sadly falls short of the mark. Descriptions are vague and corresponding photos of such poor quality that it's very difficult to gain much useful knowledge from this book.

Mike Caro is one of the leading authorities on poker strategy and this book is probably the only one of its kind on the market today. Unfortunately, this book will leave most readers deeply confused and unprepared for a casino poker game. Save your money for something else.

My dissatisfaction with the book lies mostly in its poor visual guides which accompany nearly every tell. Tells are visual by nature. In order to understand the subtle differences between an action that strongly suggests a bluff and one that suggests a truly strong hand, one must have visual aids that convey these differences effectively.

Here are clear reasons and examples why the photos are so bad. If you don't believe me, just use the "Search inside!" link to see some sample photos:
=======================================================

1. The photos are all black and white
2. The pictures are extremely grainy
3. Most of the players in high contrast with dark shadows and bright whites (i.e. photo 88)
4. The photos are at least 30 (maybe 40?) years old
5. The photos are very small ( 2" x 3" )
6. Photos for tells based on where a player is directing his eyes have the player wearing bottleneck glasses, wearing a hat that shadows the eyes or the eyes are completely obscured.
7. You cannot see what cards are on the table.

There is some wisdom in this book, but nothing you can't find online for free and with better pictures.

I believe the market is ripe for a competing book on this subject.

"I don't know..."
I didn't really buy into this book, but I guess when it comes to basic tells it does the job. The fact is, I'm not a pro, and just this last weekend I played in a home game. I tried to use Caro's tricks and it was only then that I realized how difficult it is to focus on my own cards and also try to figure out tells. That being said, I definitely started to pick up on a few tells from my opponents. Sadly I ignored them twice and lost big pots, but in the future I will destroy them.

Overall a good basic "tell" book, better than the new ones anyway, especially Helmuths.

"I do NOT want you to read this book"
I don't want YOU to read it if there's even a tiny possibility we may be seated at the same playing table some day. What higher praise could there be for a poker book?

Seriously, this is a true classic. The styles in many of the photos are seriously dated, and a few of the games mentioned are rarely played now, but the principles remain unchanged. Only if you are strictly an online player, or already a master of human interaction psychology, might this book be of little or no help. Mike "The Mad Genius" Caro is rightly known as a genius in the field, and his madness is all method.

The only thing it really lacks could not have been foreseen at the time, which would be a chapter on recognizing the mannerisms of online players when they come to real world tables - such as involuntarily reaching for a computer mouse. In that sense, and the photos, it can be called "dated" but to think that makes it irrelevant would be almost as bad as thinking there's nothing to learn from Shakespeare because it's the 21st century.

"Poker's Most Profitable Information"
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.



"POKER book!!!"
GREAT BOOK!!!!!!

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