Mike Caro has always been the hippie of organized poker.
He doesn't play the way other people play. Oh, no. That would be too easy.
Mike, who sports long hair and a beard, is a wild-eyed man who in his heyday could make his foes think he was absolutely bonkers. That is how weird he played his cards.
Before we get into Caro's style of play, let me say one thing. Mike Caro is brilliant. He has an IQ that climbs off the charts. Just because you don't understand his principles doesn't make him wrong or crazy.
Playing poker against Caro is a bit like discussing the Theory of Relativity with Albert Einstein. Words may be exchanged, but you may not know what you are talkiing about.
I met Mike years ago in Las Vegas. I also had some meetings with him in Gardena, CA. where he worked for one of the major casinos for a while. One of his friends told me a hilarious story about Caro.
'We were playing poker one night in a friend's house,' said the friend. 'Mike was really at loose ends that night. He talked to himself. He raved about his cards. He threw temper tantrums and fits. He was definitely unbalanced.
'But despite all these problems, he won. He kept piling up his winnings. Finally I took a break from the game and called Mike aside. I told him he was a nice guy and we really enjoyed playing against him, but that he needed to control his emotions better. It was for his own good.'
'Really?,' Mike responded. 'Do you really think I am unbalanced? What if I told you I scripted all those moves --- the shouting, the temper tantrums, even throwing my cards across the table? What would you say to that?'
The friend merely smiled. 'Mike, nobody could script the actions you committed during the game tonight.'
With that, Mike reached inside his coat pocket and pulled out a script. With a triumphant smirk on his face, he handed the script to his friend and said, 'Read this.'
Mike had written the script for the evening. It told exactly what he was going to do during the course of the game -- even to the tossing of the cards. Mike's friends were floored by the revelations.
In his younger days, Mike had another trick that he used when playing against new opponents. Early in the game, he would raise a hand and play pat. He would make another bet or two. Then when it came showdown time, Caro would turn over his cards to reveal nothing. The winner with the best hand would scoop the pot.
Mike would cackle with glee and say, 'Good hand! I'm just out to have fun tonight,' or something similar to that.
From that point on, any time Caro was in a pot, the other players would call him to the wire -- and he would always have the winning hands.
I had a friend from the Phillipine Islands who had a favorite saying: 'Do not be moved by what you see.' I didn't realize what she was talking about until I met Caro. Even what you see can be an illusion.
In his book, 'Super System: A Course in Power Poker,' Doyle Brunson writes, 'The first time I watched Mike play, I was convinced that not only was he crazy but that he was also weird. Bearded, long haired and balding, he looked like a hippie just down from the Haight.
''He had gone into a pot with nothing except five garbage cards. He then stood pat on these hideous-looking cards, cackling like a banshee when he laid down his fiasco and lost the pot. A little later he pulled the same stunt, only this time he raked in a $4,000 pot on the strength of a natural flush. He was crazy, all right -- crazy like a fox.'
Caro describes himself as a regular Jeykll and Hyde.
Mike takes copious notes on the odds, possibilities, longshots, chances and psychology. He caries the notes with him and says the rest of the knowledge is in his head.
'I defy anyone to find one error in these notes,' he said, confronting Brunson. 'In any given hand, I calculate the odds and weigh the psychological factors and I play accordingly.' He smiled and winked. 'Of course it helps if everyone thinks I'm a little touched.'
Mike selects his tables well. He avoids tables where all the players are alert, sit upright and seem attentive. He picks tables where there are obvious distractions like a good looking woman or a person who has been drinking. They will bother his opponents more than they will hurt him. He also likes tables where players change seats impulsively because they are superstitious. And he likes tables where players expose their cards.
If there is a lot of conversation not relating to poker, Caro is happy because the players are not concentrating. He also avoids tables where the players argue. Such players are not in a gambling mood and Caro cannot take advantage of them.
Above all, avoid tables where the players are silent. Icy silence means you're playing against a table full of rocks who are not there to gamble -- they just want a share of your money. Let the games begin.
Author: Geno Lawrenzi Jr.
(Geno Lawrenzi Jr. is an international journalist, magazine author and ghostwriter and poker player who lives in Phoenx, AZ. He has published 2,000 articles in 50 magazines and 125 newspapers. If you want to share a gambling story or book idea with him, send an email to glawrenzi@gmail.com ).
