This book is a classic. period. What makes this book even more classic is the fact that every picture in this book looks like it came from the seventies. Caro’s Book of Poker Tells is obviously a book to read if you plan on playing live poker as opposed to internet poker, but it’s a great read to get your mind thinking about something other than the cards themselves.
In the book, Caro talks about what it means when an opponent shares a hand with another player or an observer, what shuffling a hand means, nervousness, double checking, fearlessness, glancing at chips, sudden interest, tough decisions, instant reaction, and protecting a hand.
Something else that Caro also addresses is acting strong when weak, and vice versa. If a player slams his/her chips into the middle with lots of force, he/she appears to be strong, but in fact, it’s very possible that (s)he’s weak. I think that this can apply not only to the way he/she puts the chips in the middle, but how many chips go into the middle. That being said, I think it becomes obvious that Caro’s book can be applied to many more situations than the ones covered in this book; this book will give you a good foundation for future tells that you may be able to uncover.
Obviously only you, and not Mike Caro, can decide if your opponent really has tells, and it’s up to you to go with your gut and take a chance on exploiting those possible tells. However, after reading this book, you’ll at least have a bit of guidance as to what to look for when trying to gain an edge on your opponent.
This was the first poker book I ever bought, and I think you will find that’s it’s worth an hour or two of your paycheck to invest in it.
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