Phil Hellmuth Presents Read 'Em and Reap - A Career FBI Agent's Guide To Decoding Poker Tells
by Joe Navarro, FBI Special Agent Ret.
As of this writing, this book is not yet available. The Edwardsville library had an advanced copy and was giving it away. I'm supposed to also give it away. Joe Legrand will most likely be the lucky recipient.
To sum this book up, a G-Man regurgitates body language 101, teaches it to a few poker players, gets America's favorite poker whiner Phil Hellmuth to sign his name to it, and voila you have a book.
It's a bad book in many ways because unless you play poker in a casino for a living, or at least a large majority of your time, you'll hardly ever be able to apply these techniques. I suppose if you manage to get yourself down to the top 25 of a 100 person tournament you could apply these techniques, but how often does that really happen?
It's also sort of a good book because it does teach a certain amount of basics that most people don't pick up. Pursed lips, rubbing your neck, etc. are all signs a person is under stress. Leaning forward is a sign of confidence, while leaning away suggests weakness. And so on and so forth.
The premise of the author's theory is that the farther away from the face, the more accurate the read on a person. People lie with their faces all the time. They're called actors. Navarro claims the feet are the most likely indicators of poker 'tells'. He adds that you can read poker players by watching other things like the hands, mouth, nose, etc., but these aren't always the most reliable. Now I don't know about you, but if you've ever played poker in a casino you know that you might get lucky enough to see the feet of the two players sitting next to you. God forbid you get seated next to a dealer. I've played in plenty of home games too and rarely do you get to see the other players feet. However, lets suppose you can. The author states that in amateur poker games, this kind of body language reading is essentially useless. Most amateurs don't know when to fold, don't know when they are in trouble, and therefore don't exhibit any of the behaviors. Sort of convenient to state that, but I put it to the test. I tried to read these things in a recent amateur game and found that no one exhibited any of the behaviors according to Mr. Navarro's norms; not even myself who I would definitely consider to be an amateur. I've not seen a lot of it on TV either, but then again I'm not watching every hand of every table.
So maybe you're thinking to yourself; I've learned a little basics and I get to glean some poker nuggets from the poker brat. Unfortunately no. Phil Hellmuth's part is minimal, except of course to pick up his endorsement check. Phil apparently found this guy somewhere, saw a couple of his tricks work, and told him he'd help him write (and sell) a book. Interspersed throughout the book Phil adds in his own real life poker examples. There are probably a half dozen of these, most consisting of four to six paragraphs of Phil's anecdotes.
As is typical with all poker books not named Doyle Brunson's Super/System, it misses the broader point. Poker is not something you can write down in a book and learn. In order to win money, you have to adjust your style of play to every poker game that you sit down in. That's not a skill you can teach, it's only a skill you can get 2 ways. Be a prodigy or play a lot of hands of poker.
Oh, and about that poker game I recently played in. Let's just say that the people on the Missouri side of the river were lighter in the wallet than the lone Illinois attendee.
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