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Tomorrow's TechCrunch-meets-PopSugar prom, the Geek Goes Chic bash in Hollywood, makes no pretenses: It's about hooking up socially maladapted software drones with women who view them as lottery tickets. When cosponsor PopSugar teases, "Trust me, being married to a geek is a good thing so come and meet your own," what sort of girl should these guys expect? Here's a field guide to distinguish the women who are playing you from the women who will play.

  • Geek posers Anxious to make a good impression with geek guys, some women do what the guys do: try to prove their geek cred. They may well be smart, but dropping a nonsense reference to Ruby on Rails as a pickup line doesn't display any brains. This rush to be relevant is unseemly and unsexy no matter who's doing it. And they tend to attract their own. Pass them up with no hard feelings: They'll probably go for a liberal-arts dropout turned tech blogger.
  • Geek golddiggers I thought this was a myth until I first overheard two Marina girls (pointy boots, skinny jeans, big sheer blouses) assessing a row of sagging dudes in blue shirts seated at the bar at 111 Minna. The game plan: "You talk to him, I think he's with Google?" Where once women went for geeks because their awkwardness made them easy to manipulate, now they've got the promise of being kept by them. The future geek trophy wife probably won't go back to your room with you on the first night — tease and deny is her game, and in the long run, she charges way more than a pro for it.
  • Geek collectors A woman who genuinely admires tech-obsessed guys for their drive will likely not be in it for the promise of equity. She gets off on stick-to-it-iveness, not stock options — and she's most likely to be a geek herself. Aside from being outed on some blog, there's not much to fear here. The honest geek collectors won't be able to help themselves: When chatting you up, they'll inevitably let slip stories of conquests past. Don't act like the onetime prominent videoblogger guy I knew and get threatened if she tells you she's bedded your industry rivals. She's just trying to tell you she's been there before and will stay fascinated when you pillowtalk about the mean Twitters they sent. If you're lucky enough to meet a collector, when she suggests you bail early, forget that you haven't given out all your business cards and take her hand.