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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 16, 2019
Some good lessons, but not as significant as Mike Caro thinks
[This review was written some years ago. The book does exist now in the 21st century!]
Here's something I never expected to say in a review: "I haven't read this book, but..." (almost always a prelude to a "bad" review).
The reason I haven't read this book is that it may not exist! Mike Caro is a great promoter, especially of Mike Caro, and it appears that he intended to write this book--indeed surely wrote some of it (more about that below) but for some reason never published it. Or if he did, it was never distributed, or...who knows?
I can do this because I know some of the parts that would appear in the book; indeed the people at Doyle's Poker Room on the net are promoting their site by posting "12 Life Strategy Tips From Mike Caro That Really Work" which would be an integral part of "Poker Without Cards." These tips are from articles Caro wrote for Casino Player magazine in the 1990s. From that posting are these words from the Mad Genius: "Somewhere down the list of my next 20 books, which I've announced but failed to deliver so far, is one called Poker Without Cards."
I think that fairly well answers the question of whether the book exists or not or whether it was published. I have enough faith in Mike to believe the book will be published, so here is the review in advance.
Rather than review the entire psychology of life that Mike Caro presents in this "life is like poker" tome, I will concentrate on some of his tips for living life like it's a poker game.
Life is indeed NOT a poker game but there are similarities and the goal for most people in life is similar to that in poker, to win. But to win what? In poker you win money and that defines "winning" almost completely. (Caro would say that to win the respect of your peers and to win with style are also worthwhile goals.) In life however, I would go with Johnny Wooden who believed that satisfaction in basketball and in life stems from knowing you did the best you were capable of doing. He never talked about winning and losing and said that the game was just an extension of practice. I recommend that Mike Caro read a little Johnny Wooden.
Caro writes, "There's a common misconception that if you play poker long enough the cards will break even. Fat chance! Maybe, if you could play forever, never stopping, never sleeping, eventually you'd break even on luck. But not in just one lifetime!" (Tip #1)
This sort of expression gives solace to the losers, which Mike always thought was a good idea. Losing players are "good for the game," in fact essential for the game. Mike always believed that the best poker talent one could have was the ability to make good game selections, meaning that playing against weak players not strong players is the surest way to succeed.
However while it is technically true that some people have been luckier than others, it is misleading to attribute success in life or poker to luck. Yes, time and chance happen to all, but the battle is to the strong, and that IS the way to bet. Furthermore, a good poker player (or a player at life) will win even without the best cards. (To be fair, Mike has pointed this out.) For Phil Ivey, Dan Harrington, Doyle Brunson, the late Chip Reese and other professionals, getting inferior cards only means they will win a little less than if they had gotten average cards. And in life it is the same. True, as Mike points out, a tornado might sweep up all your belongings, and you might spend half your life in a hospital. How can you then be a winner at life?
What Mike says about this is "don't make things worse." He adds that some losing players would actually be winning players if that hadn't made things worse by going on tilt. You can go on tilt in life. Don't.
What many therapists and religious leaders would say about bad luck is "it's not what happens to you, it's how you react to what happens to you." This bromide is similar to the idea that it's your attitude that counts. And it's true--to a point. Like everything in life, the rules break down at the extremes. Some people have such bad luck they have no chance for success no matter how enlightened their attitude.
One of MJC's discoveries is that those players who like to go home winners, and so will quit when they're ahead, but play long hours when losing just to get even, tend to lower their expectation. This is true because if you quit when winning you are probably quitting a good game, and if you continue to play when losing, you might be in a tough game or you might not be playing your best. However, to assert, as he does that in doing this you are "pursuing a meaningless goal" is definitely incorrect. He argues that "it's better to win $10,000" while losing in two sessions and winning in only one than to win all three times and net only $7,500. (Tip #2) But most people would be happier and enjoy more hours of bliss by coming home winners more often despite winning less money. One of the delusions is to win more money than you need.
Probably the reason that Mike has not yet found a publisher for this book is that there is frankly a limit to the application and viability of his ideas. I've read several of his other books and there is more than a bit of repetition. I think that in the final analysis Mike Caro sees life a bit too much like poker, and that may be a problem. Life is in the doing, not in the goals.
(Note: there is (another) book by this title that does exist by "Ben Mack" which I haven't read.)
--Dennis Littrell, author of “The World Is Not as We Think It Is”
[This review was written some years ago. The book does exist now in the 21st century!]
Here's something I never expected to say in a review: "I haven't read this book, but..." (almost always a prelude to a "bad" review).
The reason I haven't read this book is that it may not exist! Mike Caro is a great promoter, especially of Mike Caro, and it appears that he intended to write this book--indeed surely wrote some of it (more about that below) but for some reason never published it. Or if he did, it was never distributed, or...who knows?
I can do this because I know some of the parts that would appear in the book; indeed the people at Doyle's Poker Room on the net are promoting their site by posting "12 Life Strategy Tips From Mike Caro That Really Work" which would be an integral part of "Poker Without Cards." These tips are from articles Caro wrote for Casino Player magazine in the 1990s. From that posting are these words from the Mad Genius: "Somewhere down the list of my next 20 books, which I've announced but failed to deliver so far, is one called Poker Without Cards."
I think that fairly well answers the question of whether the book exists or not or whether it was published. I have enough faith in Mike to believe the book will be published, so here is the review in advance.
Rather than review the entire psychology of life that Mike Caro presents in this "life is like poker" tome, I will concentrate on some of his tips for living life like it's a poker game.
Life is indeed NOT a poker game but there are similarities and the goal for most people in life is similar to that in poker, to win. But to win what? In poker you win money and that defines "winning" almost completely. (Caro would say that to win the respect of your peers and to win with style are also worthwhile goals.) In life however, I would go with Johnny Wooden who believed that satisfaction in basketball and in life stems from knowing you did the best you were capable of doing. He never talked about winning and losing and said that the game was just an extension of practice. I recommend that Mike Caro read a little Johnny Wooden.
Caro writes, "There's a common misconception that if you play poker long enough the cards will break even. Fat chance! Maybe, if you could play forever, never stopping, never sleeping, eventually you'd break even on luck. But not in just one lifetime!" (Tip #1)
This sort of expression gives solace to the losers, which Mike always thought was a good idea. Losing players are "good for the game," in fact essential for the game. Mike always believed that the best poker talent one could have was the ability to make good game selections, meaning that playing against weak players not strong players is the surest way to succeed.
However while it is technically true that some people have been luckier than others, it is misleading to attribute success in life or poker to luck. Yes, time and chance happen to all, but the battle is to the strong, and that IS the way to bet. Furthermore, a good poker player (or a player at life) will win even without the best cards. (To be fair, Mike has pointed this out.) For Phil Ivey, Dan Harrington, Doyle Brunson, the late Chip Reese and other professionals, getting inferior cards only means they will win a little less than if they had gotten average cards. And in life it is the same. True, as Mike points out, a tornado might sweep up all your belongings, and you might spend half your life in a hospital. How can you then be a winner at life?
What Mike says about this is "don't make things worse." He adds that some losing players would actually be winning players if that hadn't made things worse by going on tilt. You can go on tilt in life. Don't.
What many therapists and religious leaders would say about bad luck is "it's not what happens to you, it's how you react to what happens to you." This bromide is similar to the idea that it's your attitude that counts. And it's true--to a point. Like everything in life, the rules break down at the extremes. Some people have such bad luck they have no chance for success no matter how enlightened their attitude.
One of MJC's discoveries is that those players who like to go home winners, and so will quit when they're ahead, but play long hours when losing just to get even, tend to lower their expectation. This is true because if you quit when winning you are probably quitting a good game, and if you continue to play when losing, you might be in a tough game or you might not be playing your best. However, to assert, as he does that in doing this you are "pursuing a meaningless goal" is definitely incorrect. He argues that "it's better to win $10,000" while losing in two sessions and winning in only one than to win all three times and net only $7,500. (Tip #2) But most people would be happier and enjoy more hours of bliss by coming home winners more often despite winning less money. One of the delusions is to win more money than you need.
Probably the reason that Mike has not yet found a publisher for this book is that there is frankly a limit to the application and viability of his ideas. I've read several of his other books and there is more than a bit of repetition. I think that in the final analysis Mike Caro sees life a bit too much like poker, and that may be a problem. Life is in the doing, not in the goals.
(Note: there is (another) book by this title that does exist by "Ben Mack" which I haven't read.)
--Dennis Littrell, author of “The World Is Not as We Think It Is”
August 20, 2012
This book changed my life. I had to re-read it three times before the greater whole became apparent, which sent me into a blissfully revealing bout of inner reflection. It led me to such authors as Robert Anton Wilson, R. Buckminster Fuller, and Kurt Vonnegut.
Since this first fell in my lap in 2005, I have passed it on to many friends and acquaintances - who, in turn, had similar experiences. Any respectable collection of literature should include a copy of this book. Every bit of the research I've done since that year has been influenced by what I discovered as a result of reading Poker Without Cards.
Since this first fell in my lap in 2005, I have passed it on to many friends and acquaintances - who, in turn, had similar experiences. Any respectable collection of literature should include a copy of this book. Every bit of the research I've done since that year has been influenced by what I discovered as a result of reading Poker Without Cards.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews