Caro's Book of Poker Tells

by Mike Caro

One of the ten greatest books written on poker, this must-have book should be in every player's library. If you're serious about winning, you'll realize that most of the profit comes from being able to read your opponents. Caro reveals the secrets of interpreting tells - physical reactions that reveal information about a player's cards - such as shrugs, sighs, shaky hands, eye contact, and many more. Learn when opponents are bluffing, when they aren't and why - based solely on their mannerisms. Over 170 photos of players in action and play-by-play examples show the actual tells. These powerful ideas will give you the decisive edge

Genres: Nonfiction, Games, Psychology, Sports, Reference, Science

320 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1984

About the author

Mike A. Caro is a professional poker player, pioneer poker theorist, author of poker books, and casino executive.

Reviews

[Joe]

The gambling industry teems with rip-offs and false advertising. Hollywood sells an image of casinos as well-lit, relaxed places populated by fun people enjoying themselves. Real casinos tend toward dark, loud, and oppressive. The games offer the illusion of fairness, but the odds are always stacked against you. And on the outskirts lurk snake oil hucksters offering get-rich-quick schemes in book or DVD form: "How to win at poker/blackjack/slots/life, just $39.99!" You may be shocked to hear you won't get your money's worth.

Caro's Book of Poker Tells provides an exception, it's well-laid out and stuffed with practical information. Caro lists "tells" by category and gives examples for each (with pictures.) I'm a casual player who's found some success using math and patience, but there's no greater thrill in poker than reading subtle cues to tell what another player is planning.

That's where the real value of this book comes in. Most people aren't trying to build a career playing cards but, because poker tells are grounded in psychology, reading hints at the poker table can teach you a lot about understanding others.

You will get more out of the book if you come in with a solid grounding in poker strategy. The book does a decent job explaining the mechanics, but it's best if you already know generally when to call, check, raise, or fold.

Edited February 2016, then again September 2025

[Andrew Garvin]

Learning poker tells from a book is silly. Indeed, I laughed throughout.

The book is organized as an illustrated list of dozens upon dozens of tells. Caro attempts exhaustiveness - what does it mean when the opponent looks away? or reaches for the chips early? or loosens their tie? Memorizing each of these is pointless and many are filler.

Caro's advice boils down to one key observation: For Level 2 players (cognizant of the opponent) strong means weak, and weak means strong. To be clear, this distillation is my own. And, that's a problem, because many of the tells assume the other player is at Level 2. This renders the thesis confusing and poor.

[Joseph]

You'll be fine with this book if you read it for entertainment purposes only. Most players above an amateur level these days are aware of keeping their gestures and expressions uniform and constricted. The main "tells" you will glean from them are from their betting sequences in the hand and throughout the game. The idea that you will be able to tell if someone is bluffing from some sort of eye twitch or they way they toss their chips in is the stuff of Hollywood screenwriters, not real poker experience.

[Lancelot Schaubert]

Remember in the time we live in: weak is strong; strong is weak.

[John]

In this somewhat outdated manual on how to read other players at a poker table, you learn the basics of what not to do. Most poker players have heard the phrase “weak means strong “, or “strong means weak”. But this takes it a little bit beyond just that simple axiom.

With a massive explosion in Texas Hold em poker, some of this will seem very outdated and as if it does not apply, because much of it refers to seven card stud, and draw poker. That being said, so many of these “tells” will still apply to nearly any poker game you will find.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who is trying to take their knowledge of tendencies, body language, general psychology to the poker game. One thing I really liked that Caro did in this book, is that he made distinctions between weak players, medium players, and excellent players. Also, he talks a good bit about tendencies that each level of play, and players, can fall into. The other solid thing was that he discussed several times that these tells are only good with the basics of solid poker fundamentals in place.

Give this one ago. I have enjoyed this as well as Dan Harrington‘s book and also David Sklansky.

[Caroline]

It probably didn’t make a lot of sense to read this since I don’t play poker. But I got curious, and it was pretty entertaining. Sometimes it was hard to see why a certain tell would work the way described. Like if someone starts to bet, and the person across reaches for their chips, and the first person double checks their cards mid bet, apparently the first player was bluffing. Do players forget what cards they held when bluffing? I don’t really get why the first player would double check their cards regardless. Maybe if I played poker this would make sense to me.

[Barrie Penman]

As with all Poker books you read it and understand it. Not so easy to implement.
Initially it makes you aware of things but people are aware and limit expressions so very very few oblige.
Tells are an area where I felt I needed help. God it is a slow process, or I am slow at being aware.
I started with tells on beginners but they soon tighten up. Next on betting patterns.

It is a book that is useful to refer back to as your skills pick up.

Poker is positional and of few situations in a typical evening. As your game improves there are more situations for you to exploit.

[Joe Sukeforth]

Not awful. I fully grasp each of Caro's tells. The pictures were helpful in that regard. The entire book can basically be summarized by Caro's 25 Laws of Tells, so there was some overlap with the tells.

I just think this is extremely outdated. As someone who plays a fair amount of casino poker, I'd say that most players know to be consistent with their mannerisms, so over-acting doesn't exist anymore to the extent that it does here. Also, some of the tells were specific to draw poker, a variation that is no longer in style.

[Justin Yeary]

Another essential must-read poker book! Whereas other books tend to cover the math and the general play strategy of the game, Caro's text covers the psychological aspects of poker. he lets you in on a bunch of different tells, what they mean, and how much you can expect to profit off of them. His information is extremely accurate and has both saved me a ton of money and helped me win a bunch. Anyone looking to seriously improve their game MUST make reading this book a priority.

[Steven]

You will learn a lot about poker body language and the subconscious tells you are giving off that allow your opponents to soul read you and intuit whether you are bluffing.

Because the book is widely known, it is less useful for reading your opponents because competent players will deliberately give false tells to confuse you.

[Quinn]

Here's the explanation. Someone of good authority told me this was an excelent book on reading non verbal clues in stressful situations. I was hoping for a little more body language and a little less poker but hey, an interesting read for a guy who's never played and never will.

[Dale]

This was an okay book. If you're new to poker, and want to one-up your family during your next holiday get together, this book will help you.

However, if you have any experience with poker and tells at all, this book probably won't help you all that much.

[Shaun]

The book seems really old and outdated.

[Mark Donovan]

Classic

[Sanford Chee]

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Some helpful pointers that needs to be integrated to overall poker math.

Tells - needs to be integrated into overall poker probabilities
Health warning: difficult to tell for strong players/varies from players to players. Don't try this on poker pros
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqF8m...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgb91...

The flop won’t change, so are you observing your opponents not just the flop?
* watch where they are looking at? Glancing down at their chips? Looking away “disinterested”? Looking intently at their cards?
* watch their hands
* watch their lower jaw - pursing lips? Relaxed or tense? Smiling?
* look at body posture

When is opponent likely to be bluffing?
One/two players vs multi-way pots
When he is already pot committed or when he feels no one is interested in a small pot
When in position
When he is “pouncing on weakness”
When he feels like gambling - tells from the way he arranges his chip stack to the way he asks for more buy-in
On tilt
* Red flags for tilt: playing too many marginal hands; chasing 3 outers
Is he super still/frozen/afraid to give it away?
Is he overly friendly? The friendlier a better is, the >apt he is to be bluffing
Forced smile
Picking up chips out of turn & pretending to be eager to bet/call

When is opponent likely to be not bluffing?
Did he glancing down at his chip stack? =>considering making a bet
Multi-way pot especially when out of position
Is he protecting his cards?
Is he gruff?
Genuine smile not forced smile
Engaging in natural conversation
Is he "relieved"? Nervous/shaking
Looking away/disinterested =>strong is weak and weak is strong
Shrug/“it’s time to go home” speech
Sighing or showing sadness is an act so is the “poker clack”/“tsk”
Tight player/lock box suddenly woke up w/ a hand
Knowing that you have a strong hand (you’ve exhibited strength), Joe bets/re-raises aggressively (“kuai lan” bet) into you to intimidate you into calling

[Chase]

This book has one of my absolute least favorite characteristics of any non-fiction work; it's incredibly self-congratulatory. "Just do this and you'll be a winning poker player!" Yeah OK good luck with that.

And hey it has a couple tips that are OK and might help you against novice players. That's it though. Some of this may happen at tables sometimes but it's incredibly unreliable. Even for a "basics" book, I found this weak.

[Peter]

If you play poker a lot, this is a fun book. Many of the tells are so obvious and seemingly rare, yet those who show them are oblivious that they are doing so. You'll still find these tells at your home game or at lower level holdem tournaments. When sitting for long periods doing the same monotonous things, people display patterns and rhythms and are just not aware when they deviate.

[saradevil]

Pictures, and of course the date off the book itself, make this useful information but be cautiously aware. If you've read this, than you are one of many like you who have read this. Great for having a sense of what is being projected for truly appropriate acting, and still useful when playing novices in the game if you're still learning yourself.

[Alexandra Chauran]

A fun book that got a bit tedious and repetitive, but was still a good read. I'm very curious about poker tells and this gives me a starting point for observations. Some were unclear even with the pictures and descriptions, but that might just be me. I liked the hand history standard, but too bad it didn't include stack sizes.

[Vic]

320 Pages...good information but seems that could have been condensed. Lots of B&W pictures.

[Pavel Linshits]

"weak is strong, strong is weak" + some dumb stereotypes about how different types of people play. here, saved you five bucks

[Aaron Xue]

strong means weak and weak means strong

nice

[Sophie]

As a new poker player I was hoping this would be a basic introduction but to be honest I didn’t find it very useful. It seemed quite out-dated to read.

[Paddy Reddy]

Applicable to all aspects of life, not just poker.

[Fred Walker]

A little dated, people are aware of this stuff now, but still a fun read. The photos don't help much because are dark, old, & unclear. Took this book to a poker game as a prop for some laughs.

[Jeff]

Yes, he's The Mad Genius of Poker, but can any thoughtful reader take the statistics (reliability % against types of players and value/hr) at face value?

It's still a seminal work and akin to a magician revealing secrets, so it was "courageous" of Caro to attempt to profit from this knowledge away from the poker table.

[Jeremy]

By far my favorite poker book. Most of it I'd never use directly during the games I play now, but this was the first poker book I read about 8 or 9 years ago, a couple years before poker blew up, and it changed the way I thought about the game. That sounds more important that I meant it too, it's just poker, but I really appreciated the nuance.

[MHN]

Cited as one of the best booked on poker, in all honesty it assumes a great degree of poker knowledge, and the fact that the illustrations are all in black and white do very little to further the experience. I would only recommend Mike Caro's most profitable advice of poker. This book, albeit, well laid out and easy to read, is slow and irrelevant in most places.

[Jeremy]

If it teaches you anything, it teaches that it's worthwhile to closely observe your opponents at the poker table.

Caro's a bit hard to take. He seems to be even more arrogant than your average poker pro.

[James Kirby]

Always worth a quick re-read before visiting the poker room! There's definitely some overlap/redundancy in the tips and the accompanying photos are hilariously outdated, but I believe the psychology largely holds up. I'm pretty sure this book has paid for itself a few times over. :)