A large percentage of what I know about gambling and hustling, I learned hanging out at Speeds‘ pool hall on Garland Road in Dallas (I think it’s closed now, but there’s others in the Metroplex). My professor at Speeds U. was a guy named James, who owned a landscaping business and always wore matching track suits that looked like they might have been tailored to fit. I always got a kick out of the track suits, because if you challenged him to a lap around the track, he would have stopped halfway through to light a new cigarette. I remember just about everything he ever told me…except, of course, his last name. I probably never knew that tidbit in the first place. So I’ll be calling him James Acquaintance.

James was very big on image, and how you use it to get the action you want. He never believed in goofy gimmicks or drawing attention to yourself, because it’s an impression you can’t control. The “hick with money” gimmick was played out by Amarillo Slim; the shooter with big thick (fake) glasses had been done to death before I was out of diapers. When you exaggerate a look to generate an impression of weakness, maybe it works and you’re a 200-watt bulb to the moths in the room. Or maybe the mark sees right through you because nobody ACTUALLY looks like that. Or maybe you don’t get any action because the mark decides he doesn’t want to be around someone who looks or acts like you’re looking or acting. Two out of three of these outcomes is bad.

The approach to take is to dress to not impress. This doesn’t mean you show up dirty, wearing rags. Just don’t do anything different than the average person ever would. You’re shooting for the middle-of-the-road, the 50th percentile of fashion and appearance. That way, YOU control every impression and can steer what direction your game goes.

There will certainly be more from the Gospel of Prof. James Acquaintance as this blog progresses….

NP: “Hot Fuss”, The Killers