The first word in the study of poker tells is undoubtedly Mike Caro's classic Caro's Book of Poker Tells. Despite the phenomenal increase in the number of poker books, this area of study has received very little additional attention. The topic has received sporadic coverage, but no authors have directly taken on the task updating Caro's book. Burgess and Baldassarre address this topic head on in their new book, Ultimate Guide to Poker Tells.
Ultimate Guide to Poker Tells owes a great deal to Caro's work, something the authors freely acknowledge. In many ways it builds upon the work Caro has already done. It isn't necessary to read Caro's book in order to understand what Burgess and Baldassarre are saying, but I expect that poker players who want to read Ultimate Guide to Poker Tells will also want to read Caro's book, so I'd recommend reading them in chronological order.
Burgess and Baldassarre provide considerable coverage of tells, although they don't catalogue them to the same extent that Caro did. They do, though, explore several other issues not discussed in Caro's Book of Poker Tells. In their chapter, "Becoming a Poker Psychic", the authors discuss ways in which players can become more effective in their observations at the poker table. They also cite some interesting psychological research that is directly relevant to the book's subject. These topics provide good suggestions for poker players, and they're worth reading.
The authors also spend an entire chapter discussing ways in which poker players can improve their self-awareness. Not only should poker players want to pick up on as many tells as possible, but they should also work to reduce the number of involuntary tells they exhibit. Burgess and Baldassarre also discuss some of the finer points of giving off false tells. This is an interesting topic that has gotten very little coverage in the poker literature, and the discussion here is reasonably thorough.
Overall, I'm impressed with what Burgess and Baldassarre have accomplished in this book. I wouldn't call it a masterpiece, but it's a worthwhile addition to the poker literature. I would still have to say that Caro's Book of Poker Tells is the number one book on the subject, but Ultimate Guide to Poker Tells is a worthy update to Caro's classic. I would recommend that poker players who want to learn about tells read Caro's book first, but if they find themselves wanting to learn more about the the topic they should definitely check out this book.
Mike Caro's classic, Caro's Book of Poker Tells has long been the primary on poker tells, but finally a worthy companion book is available, Ultimate Guide to Poker Tells by Randy Burgess and Carl Baldassarre. I still recommend that poker players read Caro's book first, just because so much of the poker literature is based on it (including the book reviewed here), even though doing so isn't strictly necessary. Burgess and Baldassarre have done a good job with this book, and I believe it is well worth reading for those poker players interested in this topic.
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