Who Was Sid Wyman? | Las Vegas Advisor

I was looking at the list of poker players in the Poker Hall of Fame and noticed that Sid Wyman was one of the first names on the list. Wasn't he also a part of the Jewish mafia and had points in some of the mobbed-up Strip casinos in those days? How'd he wind up in the Poker Hall of Fame?

Yes, Sidney Wyman was both a poker player and hotel-casino owner of joints with Mob connections.

According to Wikipedia, Sid Wyman was born in 1910 and according to Card Player magazine in its "Men of Action" series from a few years ago, Wyman "was one of the largest bookmakers in St. Louis before moving to Vegas and becoming one of the greatest characters the town has ever known."

Wyman "had a head like a baked ham and when he laughed, all 260 pounds of him shook," the Card Player's Bob Pajich quoted Pulitzer-prize winning sportswriter Jim Murray from a 1963 profile.

Apparently, Wyman ran an illicit sports book and casino behind a front company in St. Louis that bronzed baby shoes. When the Gold Bronzing Company was busted by police in 1950 as part of a nationwide crackdown on gambling, Wyman was identified as "a current kingpin of the gambling fraternity" and made an appearance in front of the United States Senate Special Committee to Investigate Crime in Interstate Commerce convened by Senator Estes Kefauver. Pajich writes, "His attorney sitting next to him was none other than Morris Shenker, future Dune’s business partner and representative of the Teamsters’ Jimmy Hoffa and other shady characters. Thanks to his cooperation and his connections, the charges died on the vine and Wyman never even faced a jury."

In the meantime, he'd been shuttling back and forth between St. Louis and Las Vegas. His St. Louis gambling business had earned him so much money that when Wyman finally moved for good to Las Vegas in 1950, he had the wherewithal to invest in the Flamingo, the Sands (which opened in 1952), then the Riviera, Royal Nevada and Dunes (all of which opened in 1955). Pajich: "Five years from being arrested and he was a casino boss. Legit and loved."

Our old friend Barney Vinson, author of our books Casino Secrets and The Vegas Kid (a bargain at $5 each), plus Ask Barney!, Chipwrecked in Las Vegas, The Big Spin, and others, worked at the Dunes as a dice dealer and supervisor when it was still owned and operated by Wyman and here's what he has to say about him.

“At the Dunes, we had little owners and big owners. Some had only a few percentage points in the joint; they were little owners. When you passed them in the hall, you gave them a nod. Others had more percentage points; they were big owners. When you passed them in the hall, you gave them a smile. Sid Wyman had more percentage points than all the rest of them put together; he was the big big owner. When you passed him in the hall, you gave him one of your children.

"He was a great man to work for, though. He walked through the pit saying hello to everyone, even greeting us by name. Of course, we were wearing name tags, but it was still a nice gesture.

"If you were running short, he would advance you a few bucks till payday, right out of his own kick. Anything you wanted, you just asked him for it and you got it. If you crossed him, you were out the door, but that hardly ever happened."

Tom Wolfe, in his book The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby, also described him in his story "Big Game." “Big Sid Wyman, the old big-time gambler from St. Louis, is there, with his eyes looking like two poached eggs engraved with a road map of West Virginia after an all-nighter at the poker table.”

Indeed, according to Pajich, Wyman "loved to play the tables so much that the Gambling Control Board made a rule preventing owners from playing at their own casinos."

Wyman also loved food, showgirls, and hobnobbing with nabobs, mobsters, and celebrities; his long-time girlfriend, Loretta Powell, was Miss USA 1959.

As you noticed, Wyman was (posthumously) inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 1979, its first year in existence, along with the likes of fellow charter members Johnny Moss, Nick "the Greek" Dandolos, and Red Winn. We found a rare $5 poker chip dated 1979 with Wyman's name and big head on it.

And speaking of rare, in case anyone is in doubt that Sid Wyman was connected to the highest echelons of the Mob, Jewish or Italian, here's a copy of a telegram sent to him by Meyer Lansky himself from Miami on June 21, 1947, a day after Ben Siegel was murdered in Beverly Hills.

In case you can't read it:

"From: Meyer Lansky

Miami Beach, Fla.

To: Sid Wyman

Flamingo Hotel

Hwy. 91, Las Vegas, Nev.

Re: New Hotel Management

Sid,

Ben Siegel found dead in Beverly Hills ... effective immediately, change all locks in Casino Cage. No money transactions or markers over $1,000.00 until I arrive tomorrow evening. Business as usual with rest of staff.

No interviews with any News Bureaus!

Meyer"

Wow!

Sid Wyman sold his Dunes points in 1971, but still collected from the casino as a "consultant." He died eight years later, on June 26, 1978, at the age of 68 from cancer at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. According to Bob Pajich, "Morris Shenker, president of Dunes at the time of Sid’s death, halted play on the casino floor on June 28 for two minutes to honor his longtime friend."

No part of this answer may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without the written permission of the publisher.

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Comments

Kevin Lewis Aug-12-2019

Doesn't answer the question

The people in the Poker Hall of Fame are there, for the most part, because they demonstrated great skill and were champions. There are also a few people who had a great influence on the game and are there because of that rather than skill or ability (Chris Moneymaker, if he's there, would be a great example). But what was Ham Head's role in the game of poker other than pulling all-nighters? I mean, he was influential in the Vegas mob, and liked to play the game, but we'd have to make the Hall of Fame a LOT larger if that was a criterion.
In fact, the illogic of his inclusion illustrates just how-mobbed-up Vegas used to be, if he was included because he was a prominent Mob figure who liked to play poker and no other good reason.

Annie Aug-12-2019

Great Answer

Whether or not the answer is responsive to the question of how Wyman got into the hallowed Poker Hall Of Fame (as if it were Cooperstown), this QOD was one of the all-time best (maybe *the* best) QOD I've read. 

Fascinating, informative, detailed. I vote for more answers like today's rather than a more precise, to-the-point answer to a burning question like what level of player's card you need to park for free at Treasure Island. 

And that telegram: Priceless! 

If this sells a lot of A.C.'s books, it should!

Ray Aug-12-2019

Agree with Kevin

This WAS a good answer about Wyman and his mark on the history of Vegas, but what about any reason for putting him in the poker hall of fame? What did he do that was important to the game?

Question of the Day - 12 August 2019

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