button in SafariTrick or Treat? Why 'Mad Genius of Poker' Used to Set $100 Bills on Fire
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Halloween is all about tricks and treats, and few poker players understood the value of a good trick quite like Mike Caro.
Known as the "Mad Genius of Poker," Caro certainly had the nickname for the occasion. And while plenty of people will be dressing up and pretending to be someone they're not this Halloween, Caro was doing something similar at the poker table long before it was fashionable.
His trick? Setting $100 bills on fire in front of his opponents. The treat? The money he hoped to win from them afterwards.
Caro, now 82, recently resurfaced on the PokerNews Podcast for an exclusive two-part interview with Chad Holloway, having spent much of the last 20 years away from the poker world.
Among the many stories he shared was an explanation of why he would occasionally burn perfectly good money before settling down to play.
What Are You Willing to Do to Get Action?
The subject came up when Holloway mentioned a piece of Caro advice recently shared by poker pro Faraz Jaka, show up at the table, light a $100 bill on fire, then play like a nit.
"I actually did that many times, burn $100 bills," Caro confirmed. "And it's not because I don't care about money."
Quite the opposite. Caro knew that making himself look like someone who didn't care about money could be worth far more than the $100 he had just sacrificed.
"One of my quotes is in poker you should care about money but pretend not to care about money," he explained.
By setting fire to the cash, Caro was creating an image of someone who might gamble recklessly. His opponents would see a player apparently happy to throw money away, when in reality he was more than prepared to sit back and wait for the right opportunities.
And in the bigger games Caro frequented, $100 wasn't necessarily a bad price to pay for that reputation.
"Burning $100 bills got attention," he said. "It's probably very cheap advertising for the size of games that were being played."
Whether his opponents realised they'd been tricked is another question, but Caro clearly believed the stunt was money well spent.
Caro built much of his career around understanding human behaviour, particularly the little things players do to disguise the strength of their hands. His famous Book of Tells helped generations of players learn to read their opponents, and he remains convinced that many of those lessons are just as useful today.
The Mad Genius Is Back
The burning-money story was just one of the highlights from Caro's lengthy conversation with Holloway, who managed to track down the poker legend after years away from the public eye.
Caro explained that he had grown tired of the attention that came with poker's boom years and decided to retreat to the Ozarks, buying 42 acres of land on Table Rock Lake.
"I finally had enough of the madhouse of the poker community," he said.
He spent much of the following two decades enjoying a quieter life, although he hasn't completely abandoned poker.
In fact, Caro revealed that he's been working on several books and a major poker software project, and even has plans to start giving seminars again.
Both parts of his exclusive interview are now available on the PokerNews Podcast, sponsored by Solana.
Part 1 covers his famous tells, his work alongside Doyle Brunson on Super System, and his involvement in the early days of online poker.
In Part 2, Caro shares more stories about Brunson, including a hilarious airport wager, recalls being stood up by Donald Trump, and explains why he believes he missed out on the Poker Hall of Fame.
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