The "look" of money.

[Alan Mendelson]

One thing I can say about casino players in Vegas is that you can never tell how much money someone has by how they look. Dress, jewelry, mannerisms, what games they play -- none of them really tell you how much money someone has.

I was reminded of this when my friend who is now at Bellagio called me. He said he was looking around the Rolex store in Bellagio. He was greeted with a smile but no one paid any attention to him -- until he left. While he was in the store for about fifteen minutes no one approached him.

He didn't expect anyone to really cater to him because he dresses kind of grubby. But he was noticed as he walked out the door. That's when the store manager who was standing by the door glanced at his wrist and saw he was wearing a $20,000 watch. My friend saw the manager immediately walk over to the sales person in the store, pointing at his wrist as if to say "didn't you see what he was wearing?"

My favorite story about how looks can be deceiving happened at Caesars several years ago. I was playing craps at a $10 table and at the table was an older man -- probably in his early 70s, who wore a long black woolen coat and black shoes -- almost like work shoes. No jewelry. He hadn't shaved in a day or two. He also wore a black woolen cap. Yes, it was winter -- so he was dressed for the cold.

This old guy looked almost like he was homeless and was standing by the craps table just to get out of the cold. Except -- every time he reached into his coat pockets he was reaching for $100 (black) chips to make his bets on the table.

A couple of years ago I met up with another high roller who I met in an online forum. He wanted to play at Casino Royale when they had a $5 table with 100x odds. He dressed like he didn't have any money either but when he bellied up to the table he threw down a $25,000 bankroll.

Then there is the flip side of appearances. Like the young folks who come out of clubs and rush over to the craps table all duded up. And they have $100 to bet at a $25 table. They put it all on the field (a one roll bet) and get a hundred dollars' worth of yelling and either win or lose.

[RS__]

Seems like there are several times more of the "look nice, no money" type of people in Las Vegas than there are "look bad, big money" people. It's always amazed me how someone could wear some pretty nice clothing while playing small stakes. They seem to be "fake" or "phony" to me. The big players I see tend to not be flashy, wear regular clothes (T shirt, jeans, hat), not anything fancy (no button up shirt + jacket + nice pants, jewelry, necklaces nor nice watches).

[Alan Mendelson]

On the other hand, the nicely dressed people playing low stakes could be the real rich people who are just there to have some fun and aren't actually "gamblers."

Take Bill Gates, for example. Doesn't he play $2-$4 limit hold'em?

I remember playing at Commerce Casino in LA -- the largest poker casino in America. I'm at a $100 table. Sitting next to me is one of my clients -- the owner of a big winery here in Southern Cal. We were having fun at a $100 table. Then a wise ass kid sits down and starts mouthing-off about how my friend doesn't have the money to call or play for bigger bets. He looks at the kid and says "do you want me to take out my bankroll?" We both started laughing. The kid shuts up.

[RS__]

Of course there are those people who have a lot of money, dress nicely, etc. and still play low limits. That's not what I'm talking about. You know the type, they just got out of the club or they're "dressing up" to go to the casino so they can play the $10 or $15 min games. It'd be like getting dressed up real nice to go out to Olive Garden.

[Alan Mendelson]

It'd be like getting dressed up real nice to go out to Olive Garden.

A couple of years ago I went to an Olive Garden. I was dressed the way I always dress: blue jeans, pullover shirt, tennis shoes.

A couple of tables over was a large family celebrating Grandma's birthday. Everybody was all dressed up. Shirts and ties for the little youngsters, suits on the men, Grandma in her Easter Finest -- if you know what I mean -- with a corsage. There were about ten of them. Going to that restaurant was probably a big deal for them and it made me glow inside to see a family like that from a working class family -- all together, nicely dressed, celebrating a big day with Grandma. For Dad it might have meant saving up a few weeks to take his mom and the kids out to the restaurant.

When I saw that I felt bad that I was there in blue jeans and a pullover shirt and tennis shoes. I felt like a bum intruding on their family party.

[Dan Druff]

Many people who go out of their way to dress "richer" are running some kind of scam.

I'm not talking about actual rich people wearing expensive clothes, or even not-so-rich people dressing up nicely for a night out.

I'm talking about the guys who are always walking around in expensive clothes, and seem to be consistently bragging about their business and/or wealth. In these cases, the clothing is just a prop for the swindle.

On a related note, you should run away from anyone who routinely brags about how much money they have. Very few rich people actually do this. To them, having money is something they're used to, so it isn't something exciting that they brag about. In fact, they often avoid discussing their wealth, so as to not become a target for crime.

The ones bragging about money are typically the ones who are actually broke.

This doesn't apply to situations where someone is questioned or challenged about their wealth, and are defending themselves. I'm referring to those who brag out of nowhere that they are really rich.

[slobdinger]

Take Bill Gates, for example. Doesn't he play $2-$4 limit hold'em?

Gates was known to sit in the $3-$6 Stud games at the Mirage. The big boys like Brunson and Reese were dying to get him into a game. But Gates, whether it was ego or whatever, avoided them and sat in the small stakes games.

[a2a3dseddie]

I was in Mandalay Bay once in the "High Roller" pit playing $100 Blackjack. During a shuffle I stood up and walked around, eventually stopping to observe a Roulette Table. Two men had just walked up to the table. They just looked like a couple of ordinary looking guys, maybe Mexican? Polo shirts, jeans and running shoes. One of them shook hands with the pit boss over-seeing the game and pulled a single dark reddish colored chip from his front pocket and tossed it onto the felt.

The Roulette dealer proceeded to push over twelve and 1/2 stacks (250 chips) of $100 chips. Yep, that was a $25,000 chip!

I watched in awe as the guys proceeded to lose 3 of those chips...$75,000 in about 5 spins of the wheel.

[RoeIncarnate]

I watched in awe

Dismay would be the emotion I'd have.

Maybe a little respect too though.