There are many poker books that give you the skinny on how to play the cards you are dealt and strategise upon which cards you should be playing. Many of these books are excellent, but they are often restricted to hands and can leave the average poker player wondering what to do when they actually stare their opponent in the eye.

Playing the cards in a profitable way can be learned, but what about playing the player not the cards, as Mike McDermott does so brilliantly in the film Rounders when he sits on the fringes of the ‘judge’s game’ and can’t resist telling each beak what they’re holding.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZQln6DsWgE]

If playing poker is more about the player than the cards, then why aren’t more books about your opponents themselves rather than simply putting them down to a range of cards they like playing at the start of hands? Well, because doing so is immensely difficult.