It’s hard to make a successful follow-up to a much-loved original. Think of Dumb & Dumber, the Matrix or Dude, Where’s My Car? Each are untouchable, very difficult to even dream of improving (well, maybe not that last one). The point is, making a sequel is hard. In terms of poker books, it’s damn-near impossible.

We can think of very few poker books that have achieved this lofty ambition, and in the last year, we could count the number of books to improve on the original on the fingers of one finger – Dara O’Kearney and Barry Carter’s popular strategy book PKO Poker Strategy being just as good as the original that came before it.

So, for that reason, reading Verbal Poker Tells wasn’t exactly a prospect we looked forward to, and not because of the subject matter. It was merely because Zachary Elwood’s original, the highly popular Reading Poker Tells was so good. It’s like watching the first episode of a new boxset when two of the writers left in the hiatus; you’re scared to find out if the magic is gone.

Verbal Poker Tells lives up the magic of its predecessor.