Caro's Book of Poker Tells: The Psychology and Body Language of Poker

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.

This book is a widely read classic, and if you are the only one at the table who has not read it you will be at a disadvantage. Topics like shuffling a hand, nervousness, fearlessness, glancing at chips, protecting a hand and many more are discussed and illustrated with pictures. The book is divided into two general sections: tells from those who are unaware that they are giving out tells and tells from actors whose tells are meant to mislead. For the latter group of tells, a tell denoting a weak hand generally means that they have a strong hand, and tells denoting strength actually denote weakness. The trick is to distinguish the actors from the unaware.The biggest problem in applying this book is that it is so widely read that some actors try to do a double tell, i.e., denoting strength when they are strong, or weakness when they are actually weak, in the hope that people who have read the book will assume that the tell actually denoted the opposite. Thus, not only do you have to determine the actors from the unaware but you must also decide if the actor is trying to give a tell that denotes the opposite of the hand or one that denotes the hand in the hope that you will assume that it is the opposite. Things can thus get confusing very fast. Professionals claim that they try not to give any tells at all, which is a wise approach.This book is useful on two levels. The beginner can learn about tells and those that they may be giving out, and the more advanced player how to utilize the tells that their opponents give out. As such, if you know nothing about tells, you will be clueless and likely to be a consistent loser. This book will at least help to level the playing field.

Okay, here's the facts:Read this book (as everyone else will be doing) and you'll learn something. Then you'll have to contend with the people who've read the book and are using "fake" signs and tells, trying to throw people off the reality of their hand. That will work for only so long, of course.So do you feel lucky? For how long? Are you playing against a pro or are you just going for some easy money for a night or two? Whatever your agenda, this book may help. But keep in mind that if YOU are reading it, someone else (maybe a pro) is reading it too. There is a learning curve here, folks...staying ahead of the curve is the real challenge...and no one book will teach you that. But this book will do a great job of keeping you on top of the average game, maybe even the above average game... and it might even speed up your learning curve. Reason enough to buy it.

Mike Caro is really a genious at his craft. This book really isnt for the faint of heart. If you truely want to win at poker and be a consistent winner you must put in the time. Yes poker is gambling and in an essence everything in life is a gamble, but just like a Doctor or a lawyer or teacher they all had to learn there craft and then master it. This book is a key ingredient to success in poker, yes the book came out a long time ago and I wish I would of known about it because its hard to break old habbits, but this book transformed my game to new heights. If you dont like money theres always the 9-5 job:)

very practical. there are some games where the strategy only applies to. Not all of them are Holdem. The pictures really help.

Gréât book, parfait pour apprendre les bases de l'observation le tout compilé en fiches pratique. Un grand livre ou ceux qui veulent progresser.

Enjoyed the book. Not rich yet, but anything that helps your game, is worth it....

a must have for every poker player ;-)just became a big Mike Caro fan and bought more books of him.a clear thumbs up !

Tatsächlich gibt es Zeitgenossen, denen unter Stress buchstäblich die Haare zu Berge stehen. Und natürlich gibt es eine Fülle von körperlichen Reaktionen, die es einem Spieler beim Poker schwer machen, seine aktuellen Gefühle in einer kritischen Situation zu verbergen. Und ja, diese Zeichen zu erkennen, hilft, wenn man Entscheidungen treffen muss.Aber einfach ist das mit dem Lesen der Tells auch nicht. Das Buch von Caro beschreibt sehr gut, dass man eine Beobachtung immer in den Kontext der Spielsituation einbeziehen muss. Ob Stress hier ein gutes Blatt oder ein schlechtes Blatt zeigt, kann man oft nur auf Basis einer Analyse der gespielten Hand erkennen. Und es gibt weitere Parameter, die eine Rolle spielen. Ist der Spieler müde und an der Grenze seiner Konzentration und Disziplin? Täuscht das Gegenüber möglicherweise bewusst bestimmte Reaktionen vor? Wirkt sich möglicherweise der gesamte Verlauf des Abends auf ihn aus?Das Buch stellt jedenfalls die richtigen Fragen. Bei einigen Antworten scheint mir jedoch auch Vorsicht geboten. Verhalten von Menschen, insbesondere die Körpersprache, wird durch die Kultur sehr stark beeinflusst. Und man sieht den vielen Bildern, die das Buch als Beispiele verwendet, an, dass sie im amerikanischen Kulturkreis entstanden sind. Es ist also Vorsicht geboten. Und wie die meisten Pokerbücher auch sollte man dieses eher als methodisches Buch sehen. Es gibt einem Instrumente an die Hand, zu Informationen zu kommen. Lehrsätze oder Grundregeln, die man auswendig lernen kann, sollte man nicht erwarten.