Zachary Elwood’s Exploiting Poker Tells (2017) is an exceptional book, one that should not be approached lightly. While it is the culmination of a trilogy of books on poker behavior, the first two being Reading Poker Tells (2012), and Verbal Poker Tells (2014), in complexity and comprehensiveness it stands far above them. It is not a book to be skimmed, browsed through, or savored for enjoyment; it is a book to be studied and referenced. Along with the classic poker strategy books that are part of every serious poker player’s library, it needs to be on your bookshelf if you hope to conquer the psychological and behavioral aspects of the game.
Elwood is a former professional cash game player with a keen interest in the psychological side of the game, a topic given short shrift in most poker strategy books. He has written articles for Poker News, Two Plus Two Magazine and The Freeroll and he also wrote a monthly column for Bluff Magazine when it was still around. Zach’s instructional videos have been well received and he has served as a “behavioral consultant” to WSOP poker professionals and final table participants. All that being said, his work in Exploiting Poker Tells may be his finest.
After a brief introduction, the book is divided into sections that mimic most popular poker games – pre-flop tells, tells after the flop, and tells on the river. Not surprisingly, reads on all three levels have similarities and often huge differences. Inside each section, the author relates and analyzes a number (more than 140) of poker hands, some from his own table experiences and many from noted poker professionals. Throughout the book there are pauses for commentary and analyses from other poker personalities, all of which lend depth and credence to Elwood’s work. Following a short Conclusion there is a challenging final Poker Tells Quiz – a beneficial addition for a book such as this is.
Mr. Elwood is very conscious of pointing out salient beliefs relative to his musings on the poker hands he is analyzing. He chooses to do this via italicized sections that get to the meat of the issue at hand and help focus the reader/player on what is essential to absorb. For example, in the analysis of Hand #26: Caller’s statement contains clues, from a $2-$5 No-Limit Hold ‘em game, the italicized sections drive home the principle that is being stressed, i.e. “. . . when a player says that his hand is ‘garbage,’ it will usually not actually be garbage.” And “. . . with stronger hands players are typically more focused and therefore more silent. . . players with decent hands, like pocket pairs, generally don’t like to lie in such direct ways.”
These italicized gems appear throughout the book and deserve to be bookmarked:
- “Shrugs from bettors are generally going to indicate strength and relaxation”
- “In general, subtle behaviors are more reliable than exaggerated behaviors when it comes to the common weak-behavior-means-strong-hand and strong-behavior-means-weak hand tells.”
- “When bluffing, your average recreational player will choose the lowest amount he thinks will do the job.”
- “Players who flop well don’t like to draw attention to the situation.”
And the list could go on and on. For me, a person who rarely has the patience to follow hand analyses from street to street, these statements are the meat of the book. They make up the driving principles behind the entire “science” of reading and exploiting poker tells.
In the previous paragraph I wrote the word “science” in quotes since reading opponents at a poker table is far from a science. What works one day might not work the next; what is true of one opponent is almost surely not true of another. Making a read and acting on it is a very personal decision arrived at, hopefully, with a great deal of general knowledge and an equal amount of specific knowledge relative to the player in question. That being said we can never hope to always be right and Zach Elwood clearly adheres to that standard. With good reason Zach’s statements are sprinkled with words of warning to those who would take his words as gospel. He uses the words usually, typically, likely, more likely, almost always, may, generally etc. to encourage the reader to be a thinking poker player rather than one who memorizes a commandment and adheres to its principle no matter what.
Playing poker is about all those strategies you read in books by legends like Doyle Brunson and the latest big tournament winner to put his/her words on a page. You need to learn those strategies to be a winner. But, and Zach Elwood makes this abundantly clear, to be the best poker player you can be you must first become an observer of human nature. Without healthy powers of observation you will never notice poker tells at all and forever be one of the many mechanical players who sit at poker tables wondering why they aren’t winning on a regular basis and grumbling about it to our dismay.
Although I have not taken the time to review Zach’s videos, they will very probably appeal to the younger generation of poker player more so than Zach’s books. My own personal observation is that we as a society are changing rapidly from a text based culture to a video/vlog/YouTube oriented culture. On this I make no judgements. However, where I would normally advise poker players who want to get better to purchase this book, read it, put it in their library, and use it as a reference frequently, I will suggest that younger, newer players purchase the videos, watch them, store them on their laptops and use them frequently as a reference.
One modality or the other, you cannot go wrong absorbing Zach Elwood’s advice on reading and exploiting poker tells. Ignore this very important dynamic and Zach’s exploration of it at your peril.
Link to Zach Elwood’s work: Videos, Books, etc.
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