Caro's
Book of Tells by Mike Caro
Reviewed by Jotham McCauley
From the opening notes
Caro's personality exudes through his writing. His publishing company
is named the Mike Caro University of Poker, Gaming and Life Strategy,
so accordingly he addresses more than just one subject. He leaves
little doubt that he is ever less than comprehensive.
The list of tells,
complete with captioned photography, are first broken down into two
major categories. Caro tells us that without even thinking about it,
people choose whether or not to be an actor. If they are acting, you
gain an upper hand by interpreting the information they give you. If
they are not, the clues they leave while fully unaware reveal what
cards they likely hold. Furthermore, Caro teaches methods eliciting
actions from your competition for information gathering, and the
meaning of several sounds you will regularly hear at the poker table.
Telling actions pass
under the nose of many players who do not realize what meaning lies in
the manifestations of human reasoning as opponents look at their cards.
The first of these are habits performed unaware. You can gauge a
player's mood by how wild or privately they change in for chips. Their
aggressiveness by their neat or sloppy chip stack. Their patience by
the way they sit. Do they tap their fingers in anticipation? Are they
showing an observer their hand? Are their hands calm or trembling as
they bet? Try asking a question of the bettor during a big pot; you
gain valuable facts by the ease or awkwardness of their response.
Notice if an opponent shuffles their hole cards. Discrete glances to
their own chips. Glances at yours. Protective holding of their cards.
Their eyes on the coming of each up-card. Their eyes as they bet-do
they look at you or away? Is their posture stiff, natural, or animated?
Understanding the likelihood of each unconscious reaction will allow
you to place yourself further ahead in cost-versus-reward poker
questions.
The second type of tells
are habits by actors. The strategy of many novice players is to tell
you they are weak when they are strong, and strong when they are weak.
They may make a motion of exaggerated uncertainty as they bet, fake a
fold out of turn, or look away from the action, all while they hold a
hand they want you to lose to. When weak, they may stare at the flop or
their own cards, look menacingly at you, expose cards, or reach to
their chips to appear betting, all designed to keep you from taking the
pot. Generally with this type of player, they will place their chips in
the pot gently when they have a strong hand and pound them with
authority when their hand is weak. Always identify what actors want,
then give them the opposite.
The underlying message to
the analysis of body language is not to engulf yourself in cataloging
every motion of every player during every moment. Rather the propensity
of an individual to display one of the tells unconsciously throughout
the course of a game is an opportunity ripe for increasing your chip
stack. Some people will display certain tells, others will display
others. Caro's Book of Tells establishes the groundwork for a policy of
psychological pursuit that must become second nature for your
successful poker play.
