Caro's Fundamental Secrets of Winning Poker

Mike Caro--or "MJC" as he was known in the early days in the clubs in Gardena, California where he was the king of the rounders--has always been an enigmatic figure in the poker world. Never a world-class player like Doyle Brunson or Bobby Baldwin--to name two from the older generation--and never a great theoretician like David Sklansky, Caro nonetheless became one of the game's great celebrities mainly due to his fine talent for self-promotion. I was once told by a middle level professional that Mike was "a terrible player." This guy ought to know since he propped the games at the California clubs and had played against MJC many times. However the truth is Mike was and is a very good player. His problem was one that often afflicts great minds in many different fields, that of boredom. One often had the sense when playing against the self-styled "Mad Genius of Poker" that the game was too slow for him and that the challenges weren't really challenging enough, and he had to do something to liven up the game or--and this was almost always his ultimate goal--to "take over the table," psychologically speaking.
And so Mike would make the most astonishing plays--good and bad--spectacular calls and lay-downs, such as calling with a skinny pair of jacks at the showdown or showing a seemingly winning hand and tossing it away without calling. His most famous play at draw poker was to raise the opener before the draw, stand pat, and then when the betting came around to him expose his worthless hand WITHOUT betting. I heard one of the regulars in the old twenty-straight draw game remark, "Why doesn't he just mail me a check?" But she did not understand Mike's logic. Another player, a very good one, did understood very well what Caro was about, as revealed in his pointed comment: "I'll tell you one thing about Mike Caro. He always deserves a call."
With his talent for showmanship and his desire to do more than just play cards, it wasn't surprising that as the hold'em and seven-card stud games became legal in California in the eighties, Mike would become the preeminent entrepreneur of poker through his seminars and his assumption of the "Mad Genius" persona. He gave lectures, made poker videoes, wrote books and magazine articles, and found inclusion as the draw poker authority in Doyle Brunson's original SuperSystem book from the seventies. This book amounts to a collection of essays based on some of the seminar classes from what he eventually styled as his "University of Poker." All in all, Mike has done well for himself at the game. The question is, has he done well for his students? My answer is a qualified yes. In this book (not to be taken as an introductory text, by the way) he offers excellent advice for the small and middle stakes player. His qualities as a motivational speaker come through very well. His booster-like enthusiasm and his self-help, psychological approach will benefit many. Contrary to what some other reviewers have written, this is an easy book to read with some worthwhile advice. Some examples:
"Calling as the big blind. It's much more profitable to play if your call closes the action." (p. 135) What Caro means is that either there was no raise or the raiser was to your immediate left so that no raise or reraise is possible. This is an important concept. If you call a raise from the button after a couple of other players have limped in from early seats you are not only in danger of a reraise after your call, but if it is reraised, the reraiser in an early seat probably has a big hand. "When everyone checks on the flop, then again on 4th Street, you can steal a lot of pots from the last position." (p. 98) Actually if everybody checks twice, you might have the best hand with little to nothing. A more sophisticated observation on this situation is that if anybody in the last position bets, you can steal more than a few pots by raising that bettor!
On the same page there is this (written in large white letters in a black box as on a chalkboard--as though Mike IS giving a lecture, perhaps with baton in hand): "When you bet from the last position on the flop, you can often see your whole hand for free!" This is Mike's way of expressing the "how to get a free card" concept. Usually this is explained in a situation where it has been bet on the flop and you are last with a drawing hand. You raise so that everyone will check to you on 4th Street. Then, if you make your hand, you bet, and if you miss, you just check and give yourself a free card. Mike is right though, in passive games (which he always loved) many players will check to you on 4th Street after you have bet the flop, and you can just check behind them and see the river card for free. One more: "Many skilled players suffer from FPS (Fancy Play Syndrome). They'd rather impress weak opponents with unexpected plays than beat them with the obvious winning strategy. Avoid FPS." Here Mike could be self-analyzing. But he's right of course. This is mostly about hold'em, but there is some tournament strategy in the book, and Caro has a chapter on seven-card stud and another on seven-card hi-lo. His chapter on the subject of money management (which I like to call "self-management," since it is all about staying in the game and not going broke) is excellent. All in all this book is definitely worthwhile, but will be somewhat mysterious in places to the absolute beginner, and too fundamental for the experienced professional.