Customer Reviews

Phil Hellmuth Presents Read 'Em and Reap

5 star:		(42)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is very good. It does a very good job of laying the groundwork for the psychology and physiology behind tells. It explains the body's natural tendency to react to various situations as a function of the biology of the brain and thousands of years of evolution. It also takes the reader through several learning excercises that will help increase awareness of important things to observe and additionally help the reader to be less "readable" himself. Additionally, it is well organized and well written.

I have read and re-read every tell book on the market and dozens of poker books. I find it interesting that so many "experts" can not agree on the value of tells. In John Feeney's "Inside the Poker Mind" he minimizes the value of tells quite a bit. In the tells section of "Super System 2" Mike Caro suggests that you "might easily double your income" by developing your skills. In this book the authors suggest that winning poker is 70% reading players and only 30% reading the cards("understanding the mathematical and technical aspects") They do tell you that their 70/30 equation is geared towards larger buy-in no limit tournaments but the overall presentation suggests that this 70/30 is a general guide to poker.

Personally, I think they may all be somewhat correct! Let me explain. Feeney plays(played) mostly middle and upper limit holdem and stud where the players are more advanced and rely on their technical prowess and aggression to hold an edge. In the lower limit games there are so many available tells that Caro might not be far off in his assertion. Navarro and Hellmuth address primarily no limit holdem tournaments as far as the specific examples from Hellmuth's poker career. Why is this important? Because elimination no limit events may put the most pressure on the other players and the time allotted to making decisions is significantly longer than in limit cash games. So a player of Hellmuth's caliber, given extended time to study opponents may in fact have an enormous edge in reading players-approaching his theoretical 70% number. And this is why I rate the book a 4 instead of a 5; the average player or players playing mostly limit cash games versus no limit tournaments will not be operating under the same set of circumstances as Hellmuth does in his mostly no limit tournament environment. And taken out of context* the value of tells is highly debateable. I feel they under emphasize this critical explanation in their book and may have oversold the value of tells for many lesser experienced players. Don't misunderstand-the book is very good but you need to be a fundamentally good poker player to extract additional profit from developing tells skills and using your skills to exploit your opponents. By all means buy the book but keep things in perspective.

*This is not the same "context" the other reviewer is speaking of. He is speaking of the context of the tell itself where I am referring to the value of tells as they relate to the specific poker environment or situation(ie cash or no limit tournament)

Post Script Nov 16, 2007: I have just finished re-reading this book for the third time and if the edit portion would allow it I would change my rating to a five. After reading it again I not only overlooked some great information on my first two readings but after reading it I watched a couple of episodes of High Stakes Poker and spotted numerous tells from big name pros that I had not even been aware of enough to look for; I spotted tells from Sammy Farha, Paul Wasicka and Patrick Antonius to name just a few. Wow. A casual reading did not give me that awareness but studying the book did. There is definitely a lot to learn if you will put in some time. This book is a must have if you take your game seriously at all. If you can spot tells in seasoned professionals I am confident you can find lots of tells in your regular games.

I just finished a first pass through _Read 'Em and Reap_. I'm sure I could write a better review after a few sessions of live play trying to use what I have learned, but I can always edit this one in the light of any significant results[1].

Too many books of this general type are fluffed up with a lot of rhetoric about why we should care about the subject; there's only a little of that here, before the author dives right in. Navarro provides a good catalog of unconscious tells to look for, hints on how to distinguish those from acting, and a good method for sealing yourself off from broadcasting tells (hint: watch Hoyt Corkins play). I was pleased to see that he discusses how to put tells in context and doesn't exaggerate their importance.

There isn't going to be a magic bullet in this field, as people vary in their responses, not to mention acting ability and the curious phenomenon of unconscious acting. I was once in a hand with two players ahead of me, where I had picked up a pair of 9s with my 97 (No snide comments allowed: The Persian Carpet Ride is my favorite trash hand, and you have one, too.) The two other players were competing to see who could lean over the pot the furthest; I had not seen anyone at the table completely lose it like this before or since. Caro would say they were weak but acting strong; Navarro would say they were strong unless you could be sure they were acting. With a bet and a call ahead of me, I'd love to be able to say I correctly diagnosed what they were doing, which was trying to make something happen with a couple of mediocre overcard hands, and raised them back into their chairs. I didn't, though; since I couldn't decide which way they were leaning, so to speak, I got out of the way with my middling pair. I wouldn't do that today.

I'm thinking that Navarro is absolutely right that spotting a subtle initial reaction is much better than trying to figure out what something dramatic like that really means.

Navarro carefully points out that stress-based tells are not going to be prominent in low-stakes games. I'm glad of that warning, as my current live game is fairly inexpensive and populated mostly by people who have reasonable poker faces. This means I face a real challenge in tell-spotting.

The book is lightly sprinkled with Phil Hellmuth's anecdotes, but don't let that keep you from buying it. A couple of them are new, relevant, and actually pretty funny.

I'm absolutely disgusted to see this book at #146 in sales; that means I have to completely memorize the material on minimizing my own tells, as I cannot assume that most people have not read this book. I got in on the poker boom late, and now this. Darn!

1. Ha! I now have major tells on two of the regulars in my local game, and that doesn't count the others who are always going to fold or always going to call a big bet, so I know what and how to play against them even if they were invisible. So Navarro has helped; now if he just had a cure for the one guy who gets lucky every time no matter how badly he's beat when the money goes in ...

This book is pretty bad. It has a few useful tidbits of info if you are willing to wade through pages and pages of filler material. I strongly suggest anyone considering purchase go to a bookstore and examine the book first. Here are some things you will find:

1. Look at the print - it's practically double-spaced.

2. It's filled with unnecessary full-page photos. For example, look at page 168, where a full-page photo shows what whistling looks like.

3. It reuses photos. Look at pages 34 and 87. Notice anything? Entire page taken up with exactly the same photos. The captions are slightly different, but basically say the same thing.

4. It reuses content. Everything is repeated over and over and over again. There are countless examples of this throughout the book.

5. The writing is very long-winded. Open to any random page and read a few lines and you'll see what I mean. Here's an example: pages 133 to 137 describe a single tell called a tongue-jut, including a full-page photo to show what it looks like. Here's what those 5 pages say: if a player flicks his tongue between his teeth for a second, he feels like he got away with something. That's it. 5 pages.

6. The Phil Hellmuth anecdotes are self-promoting, uninteresting and basically useless to the reader. Is anyone surprised by this? To see what I mean, flip through the book and read any section with a gray background. For example, on page 137, Phil begins a 3-page story about how great he was at reading Howard Lederer in a certain hand.

And so on...

The cover of the book tells us that Joe Navarro wrote the book with Marvin Karlins, but it's presented by Phil Hellmuth. What this means is: Joe wrote up everything he could think of and only came out with about 10 pages of actual content. They hired Marvin to spread that out to a full book, but still came up short. So they added Phil Hellmuth to give his endorsement and write a bunch of anecdotes to stretch the story even more. Finally, they threw in a bunch of photos to get up to about 200 pages, still a minimal length for a reference book on poker.

Don't take my word on this - go to a bookstore and look for yourself.

p.s. I'm not a huge fan of Mike Caro's book either. It's just so old. There definitely is a need for a modern, well-written book about poker tells. Anyone have any ideas?

Navarro knows the subject of nonverbal behaviors (tells) very well. It has been his job to know what the other guy was going to do or what he is trying to hide for over 25 years. He knows all the tells and why we exhibit these tells. He gives you all this information in the book and even how to hide your own tells--well, at least conceal them enough to save you money.

He covers all the tells you will need to know from the face to the toes. The pictures in the book clearly demonstrate each of the tells discussed, which was very useful. Whether you like Hellmuth or not, he adds his 2 cents at the end of some of the chapters. These are actually not too bad and it's only a brief page or two comment, so nothing to worry about for those who don't like the poker brat.

The best parts of the book are his recommendations for hiding your own tells at the table and also detecting when people are trying to give off false tells. He also covers all the bases that might get a new person from making mistakes, like looking for stress type tells at a small limit game or confusing regular behaviors for revealing tells.

Overall, I enjoyed the book. I don't play a lot of live poker, but I thought I would enjoy the information coming from a former F.B.I. agent--I was correct, I did. Joe Navarro did an excellent job of introducing the reader to tells and explaining how the brain, along with our primal survival instincts, leads to these revealing nonverbal behaviors. The information can probably be taken off the poker tables and used in your daily life as well. It's never a bad thing to know when someone is hiding something or trying to be deceptive.

I bought this book just before a trip I took to vegas last month and it paid for itself many times over. If you learn nothing from the book other than how to conceal your own tells you will come out a winner. For those of you who think they have no tells, believe me, you do. Joe Navaro was able to spot tells in players as difficult to read as chris fergusson. I've read tons of poker books and this by far is second only in terms of importance to 'Theory of Poker'. And the only reason I put it second is because without a basic understanding of the game nothing else matters. But for those of you who know poker this book will teach you how to pick up on the body language and such of your opponents. Oh yeah. About my vegas trip. I would say this book accounted for about $1,000 of my winnings that weekend (Playing 1-3 NL). In several situations I was able to pick up tells that allowed me to make calls I normally wouldnt have and also to make plays with nothing based primarily on this book. Good luck!

So I've read about this book being called out for not having enough content and having too many photos and repetitive information. This is absolutely right, and would be a complete condemnation of this book...if this was a book about pot odds, or Harrington's M value. But it's not, it's a book about tells. I would challenge anyone to try to write a book about body language with just text. It can't be done. To be honest, this probably shouldn't even be a book. It should be a video where Phil and Joe just sit in front of a screen and point out other players' tells. It would be even better/more entertaining if they tried to read what people had as you saw their actual hands. Think about it, you'd get to watch experts call each other's tells, and you would be able test the accuracy of Hellmuth's god-given ability to read people. Brilliant. If someone doesn't do this within the next year, I'm pitching it to the Brat.

This is just the long way of saying that the book has good value if you're really looking to learn tells. But it does beg the question, how important are tells in actual play? Well, if you play online, not at all, obv. But if you decide to actually enter a poker room and play the game face to face, it's fun to think that learning to read tells could help establish you as a winning player.

This is where I have an issue with the idea of the book. And it has nothing to do with the quality of this particular book--after all, I'm giving it 4 stars. It's just that tells aren't that important. There are so many other (and more accurate) ways to figure out what a player is holding based upon their actual tendencies and playing histories. Plus, people get into the mindset that somehow reading someone is going to give you the right play. Well, as you know from reading Sklansky's Theory of Poker (I assume you have), even if you had the ability to see everyone's hands, it still takes a lot of knowledge and skill to know what to do with that information, such as knowing when, even if the percentages aren't in your favor, the pot odds make a call worth it. Too many people think that poker is about reading tells, and books like this, even if they are well put together as this one is, just perpetuates that mistake.

This is a fascinating book, with lots of photos of expressions, gestures and behaviours that give away the strength of a hand or the intent to raise or fold. At one point, I caught myself doing at tell just as I was reading about it! There is an amazing story where Phil Hellmuth made an astounding fold because he saw his opponent's eyes dilate when the turn card hit and knew it helped him. And beyond just recognizing tells, Joe Navarro, a long time FBI behavioural analyst, explains the psychology behind them and why it's so hard to hide all tells. Then he gives his own strategies for minimizing your own tells, while picking up more on others. I'd hate to be across a poker table from either of these two!

I am mainly a internet player, but have played at very prestigious card rooms to the likes of the Bike in LA, and commerce. Usually NL 300 to 500 and up. I read this book expecting maybe more than i should have. I can sum the entire book up by saying simply "pay attention". Nothing really ground breaking at all here. It was a quick read, so i rated it a bit higher than i thought the content was good. Mike Caro's book i find, although outdated, is more packed with information. How the hell am i supposed to make a desicion on a big hand based on something i cant see. Like the over emphasized feet section of the book. Im sure this stuff will help a bit, but it should be used as a basic beginner tool. I thought with this guys qualifications there would be more. I was wrong. Just dont expect to hit the tables and crack the code, cuz u will be the one getting cracked.

This is without a doubt a very eye opening look into the psychology of poker and deciphering poker tells.

The results for me after reading this book was almost instantaneous. After reading this book, I finished 3rd in a monthly poker league event where I had been knocked out early in two prior events. The book has allowed me to make some great laydowns and a couple of great calls based on the information I read in the book. But let me say to new players that this success comes with a warning. Poker tells and being able to spot them are only a portion of what you need to be successful in the game.

Poker tells are only a part of the story that will need to help you make a correct decision in a hand. Your cards, the flop, other players, poker math, position, betting patterns, and the tells described in this book ALL should be factored in to the decision that a player makes at the table. The very valuable things that a player will learn from this book are not the only things needed to win. Navarro makes a very important point in saying that after a long day at the tables, a player should be mentally exhausted. And if you are paying attention to all of the above, Navarro is 100% accurate.

This book will add a key weapon to a players arsenal. It is a good and easy read. The illustrations help to highlight what to look for and when to look for it. The information in this book has the potential to make a player go from break even to a plus player. This book contains that edge. For instance, Navarro asks in his book, "What is the most honest part of the body (when looking for a tell)?" My guess was way off. And I was surprised at the answer.

While I absolutely respect Phil Hellmuth's game, he really earns the title of Poker Brat in this book. His parts in the book really amount to grandstanding about some of the great hands he has played throughout his career. And he will be sure to remind you that these hands were played during the biggest tournaments in the world. If you have followed Hellmuth, it's acutally pretty funny to read his passages because you know how important it is for him to remind people that he is Phil Hellmuth, World Champion.

I honestly think that this is a book for players with at least some experience. Complete beginners should not worry themselves with this book right away because there are far more important things about the game that need to be learned first.

For the experienced players this book contains the information that could help take you to the next level. This book will help you complete the story of each hand and make the correct decision. It has worked well for me so far.

So in conclusion, don't buy this book. In fact, I am going to take the money I make after having read this book, buy every copy available and burn them. I really don't want to run into anyone on the table who has read this book.

Seriously, great book Mr. Navarro.

Mike Caro's book was revolutionary since it was the first book that categorized all the tells from the poker table. I believe everybody should read Caro's book first if you want to learn about tells, but this books teaches you on how to continue learning how to read tells.

Joe Navarro talks a lot about standard position, this is how people are in their normal state. You have to be observant on how people look like when they aren't under any pressure or stress. Base on this knowledge you will then start trying to read this person on tells. In the end of the book Navarro teaches you how to improve your observation skills with some exercises.
Some reviews says that this is just a copy of Caro's book. I don't believe that's true, you will find information here that you can't find in Caro's book.