For this week’s installment of What I’m reading, I bring you a book that I first read about 7 years ago. When I first decided that I wanted to play poker seriously, I bought two books. The first was Super System by Doyle Brunson, and the other was this one. While most poker players will tell you that Super System is the ultimate poker book, and they are probably right, I think that Caro’s book has some interesting life lessons intertwined in its pages that are so heavily poker focused.

Caro’s book of Poker Tells is the ultimate guide to knowing what cards the other players at the table are holding. The text reads quickly and the illustrations make it very clear what situations “Mad” Mike Caro is getting at in the book. While the fashion might not the best same as today, a nervous player you can’t make a bet without dropping their chips all over the place still looks the same today as it did when it was first written.

More importantly there are some theories in the book, that are just as true in life, or in the business world as they are at the poker table. I tried to find one exact quote from the book, but I couldn’t in time to publish this post. But one line that I often remind myself of goes something like this: “Money you save buys just as much as money you win.” The quote was in reference to players who throw away some chips when they don’t have much left in front of them. Walking away with that last $50 means that you have $50. And you can buy the same $50 item with that money as you can with $50 you might win off someone. Throwing away that last $50 on a hand of poker just because you no longer have a few hundred or a few thousand in front you means, that you can no longer buy that $50 item. Or any item for that matter.

In the spirit of this feature, I’ll include a youtube snippet from the author: