Reading Poker Tells

by Zachary Elwood

Reading Poker Tells has been called the best book on poker tells by many players, both amateur and professional. The book catalogues many of the most common poker-related behavioral patterns and gives psychological explanations for why these patterns exist. More importantly, the book gives a mental framework for analyzing and remembering poker tells. It also contains tips for deceiving and manipulating opponents, and methods for staying unreadable.

The author's blog and ebook are available at ReadingPokerTells.com.

REVIEWS

" Reading Poker Tells is one of the most helpful poker books I've ever read."                     
            - Andrew Brokos, pro player, author of Thinking Poker Diaries

" Reading Poker Tells is far and away the best book on live reads. I recommend it to everyone."                    
            - Max Steinberg, pro player, 4th place WSOP Main Event

"Elwood has established himself as an authority on poker tells. His book is the current gold standard." 
             - Ed Miller, pro player and poker author
"It's hard work to find tells, so many people don't do it. This book just made it a lot more simple, condensing years of legwork into one easy read."
             -"Limon", pro poker player, Live At The Bike commentator
"I really like the organization and delivery of your book. Bravo." 
             - Tommy Angelo, pro player, author of Elements of Poker

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction

228 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2012

Reviews

[Rich Miner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read nearly every poker book written in the last 50 years & this book Reading Poker
Tells by Zachary Elwood is in a class along with Super System by Doyle Brunson.
If you are a poker player this book will help you earn $1000s more than you are now. if you are just learning poker get this book & start winning, a good number of professional poker players have read it and recommend & rated it among 5 stars as I have.Reading Poker Tells

[willow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibly interesting! And that’s coming from a person who has never played a single game of poker. I’ve always wondered how poker players could read people and now I am really glad to have my question answered. As someone who doesn’t even have the intention of playing the game I can’t believe that I didn’t lose interest throughout reading it, but there is simply lots of interesting insight on human psychology and it’s impassible to do so. Very happy I picked it up! I am sure I’ll find use out of it.

[TOETU MOAMOA SAGIA · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Value.

I was able to fix some of the leaks of my game while reading this book, and able to read bad players and their tendencies. I am mad that I just now discovered this book because my rate would’ve been better and I wouldn’t have lost a lot. A MUST read for live players.

[Keith Maynard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Made me more aware of my opponents and their habits.

[Abhishek Singh · Rating 4 out of 5]

About as effective as I assumed (little), though credit to writer for trying to pull very diverse and practical subject into theory and principle. The structure and flow will keep you hooked.

[Cameron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book on interpretating and reading poker tells!

[John Cook]

Excellent book

I found this book useful in a number of ways, from picking up reads on my opponents to noticing my own tells.
I like the fact that the author does not try to sell tells as a miracle for getting rich playing poker. instead he gives honest advice on the subject while reminding the reader that this is just one facet of a very complex game.
the layout of the book is also well done though there is quite a bit of flipping back and forth, that is a product of the topic rather than a writing issue.
I especially like the way the author goes into detail to explain the logic behind each tell as well as other authors arguments on the subject.

[Eddy · Rating 3 out of 5]

So obviously I think this is a great book, but to be fair to myself, the truth is that I struggle with tells. My short term memory in poker is often that of a goldfish and in poker you really need a sharp memory to get to the top. So whilst I find the info in this book invaluable, I struggle to implement it and find it difficult to put into practice in an easy 1 2 3 step method.

[Iyad Atuan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to admit i was a skeptic about reading this book as the author is an unknown poker player so wasn't sure what insight he had. I was surprised about the description of the tells as I experienced some at the tables. Others I wasnt even aware of but next time I was playing poker observed for them and found them to be profitable.

[Rob · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't play live poker as regularly as I used to, but Zach's approach and examples combine to offer something for live players of various skill levels to understand and work on during their next game.

[t · Rating 5 out of 5]

oldschool online player gone livepro here. this books doubled my winrate!

Edit: rereading this after logging a bunch of hours and realizing I need to pay way more attn to these tells. Book is so good

[Eugene Tung · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like the way the author breaks down tells into before, during and post-bet. Gives a more organised and systematic way of analysing tells.

[Kevin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not that useful. His verbal poker tells book was better because of all the real-life/real-play examples.

[Liquidlasagna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Malmuth rates this one about an 10

[Steve · Rating 1 out of 5]

This didnt teach me anything. Waste of time.