“At my age, I suppose I should be knitting. But I would rather play poker with five or
six ‘experts’♣ than eat.”
— Alice Ivers Tubbs; aka Poker Alice
Perhaps the best-known
female poker player in the Old West, Alice Ivers Tubbs,♣ better known as “Poker Alice,”
hailed from England. Born on February 17, 1851, in Devonshire, she was the daughter of
♣ a conservative schoolmaster who moved the family to the United States when she was
still a small girl. First settling♣ in Virginia, Alice attended an elite boarding school
for young women until the family moved again in her teenage years♣ to the silver rush in
Leadville, Colorado.
While there, Alice met a mining engineer named Frank Duffield, and
the two married♣ when she was 20. Gambling was a way of life in the many mining camps of
the Old West, and♣ when Frank, an enthusiastic player, visited the many gambling halls
in Leadville, young Alice went along with him rather than♣ stay home alone. At first,
the pretty young girl stood quietly behind her husband, simply watching the play.
However, after♣ a quick study, it wasn’t long before she was sitting in on the games,
quickly demonstrating proficiency for poker and♣ faro.
A few years after their marriage,
Alice’s husband, a mining engineer, was killed in an explosion, and she was left♣ alone
with no means of support. With her education, she might have taught school; however,
even though the mining camp♣ flourished with some 35,000 residents, it didn’t have a
school. The few remaining jobs available to women in a mining♣ camp did not appeal to
Alice, and she soon decided to try to make a living with her gambling skills.♣ Though
she preferred the game of poker, she also learned to deal and play Faro and was soon in
high♣ demand, both as a player and a dealer. At this time, Alice was a petite 5’4″
beauty with blue eyes♣ and lush brown hair. A “lady” in a gambling hall that wasn’t of
the “soiled dove” variety was rare in♣ the Old West and adorned in the latest fashions,
she was a sight for the sore eyes of many a♣ miner.
Traveling from one mining camp to
another, the talented young beauty soon acquired the nickname “Poker Alice.” In
addition to♣ playing the game, she often worked as a dealer in cities all over Colorado,
including Alamosa, Central City, Georgetown, and♣ Trinidad. As time passed, Alice began
to puff on large black cigars while still wearing fashionable frilly dresses; however,
she♣ never gambled on Sundays because of her religious beliefs. She also carried a .38
revolver and wasn’t afraid to use♣ it. As her reputation grew throughout the west, she
always found willing players and attracted men looking for a challenge.♣ As such, she
was quickly welcomed in gambling halls because the crowd she drew was good for
business.
Alice soon left♣ Colorado and went to Silver City, New Mexico, where she broke
the bank at the Gold Dust Gambling House, winning♣ someR$6,000. Sometime later, she made
a trip to New York City, which she often did after a significant win, to♣ replenish her
wardrobe of fashionable clothing.
Afterward, she returned to Creede, Colorado, where
she worked as a dealer in Bob Ford’s♣ saloon – the same Bob Ford who had earlier killed
Jesse James.
Alice eventually made her way to Deadwood, South Dakota,♣ around 1890.
While there, she met a man named Warren G. Tubbs, who worked as a housepainter in
Sturgis but♣ sidelined as a dealer and gambler.
Though she routinely beat Tubbs at the
gaming tables, he was taken with her, and♣ the two began seeing each other outside the
gambling halls. On one occasion, when a drunken miner threatened Tubbs with♣ a knife,
Alice pulled out her .38 and put a bullet into the miner’s arm. Tubbs and Alice
eventually married,♣ and the couple would have seven children. Tubbs, a painter by
trade, and Alice’s gambling profits supported the family. The♣ couple eventually moved
out of Deadwood, where they homesteaded a ranch near Sturgis on the Moreau
River.
During this time, Alice♣ significantly reduced the time spent in gaming houses as
she helped with the ranch and raised her children. But Alice♣ was doomed to be luckier
at cards than at love. When Tubbs was diagnosed with tuberculosis, she was determined
to♣ stay by his side and nurse him back to health. Tubbs lost the fight and died of
pneumonia in the♣ winter of 1910. Alice then loaded him into a horse-drawn wagon to take
his body to Sturgis for burial. At♣ least one legend says she had to pawn her wedding
ring to pay for the funeral and went to a♣ gambling parlor to earn the money to get her
ring back.
Alice would later say that the time spent on the♣ ranch was some of the
happiest days of her life and that during those years, she didn’t miss the saloons♣ and
gambling halls but liked the peace and quiet of the ranch. However, after Tubbs’ death,
she was required to♣ make a living again. She then hired George Huckert to care for the
homestead and moved to Sturgis to earn♣ her way. Huckert was enamored with Alice and
proposed marriage to her several times. Finally, Alice married him, saying flippantly,
♣ “I owed him so much in back wages; I figured it would be cheaper to marry him than pay
him♣ off. So I did.” But the marriage would be short, as Alice was widowed again when
Huckert died in 1913.
Sometime♣ later, during Prohibition, Alice opened a “Poker’s
Palace” saloon between Sturgis and Fort Meade, providing both gambling and liquor and
♣ “women” who serviced the customers. While here, a drunken soldier began to cause havoc
in the saloon, destroying the furniture♣ and causing a ruckus. Alice responded by
pulling her .38 and shooting the man. While in jail awaiting trial, she♣ calmly smoked
cigars and read the Bible. She was acquitted on the grounds of self-defense, but her
saloon was shut♣ down in the meantime.
Now, in her 70s and with her beauty and
fashionable gowns long gone, Alice struggled in her♣ last years, continuing to gamble
but now dressing in men’s clothing. She occasionally was featured at events like the
Diamond♣ Jubilee, in Omaha, Nebraska, as a true frontier character, where she was known
to have said, “At my age, I♣ suppose I should be knitting. But I would rather play poker
with five or six ‘experts’ than eat.”
She continued to♣ run a “house” of ill-repute in
Sturgis during her later years and was often arrested for drunkenness and keeping a
♣ disorderly house. Though she paid her fines, she continued to operate the business
until she was finally arrested for repeated♣ convictions of running a brothel and
sentenced to prison. However, the governor pardoned Alice, who was 75 years old
then.
At♣ 79, she underwent a gallbladder operation in Rapid City but died of
complications on February 27, 1930. She was buried♣ at St. Aloysius Cemetery in Sturgis,
South Dakota.
Alice claimed to have won more thanR$250,000 at the gaming tables in her
♣ later years and never once cheated. In fact, one of her favorite sayings was: “Praise
the Lord and place your♣ bets. I’ll take your money with no regrets.”
©Kathy
Alexander/Legends of America, updated March 2024.
Also See:
Women in American
History
Leadville, Colorado –♣ Cloud City USA
Gambling in the Old West
Gambling &
Saloons Photo Gallery
South Dakota Main Page
