Poker Alice
Alice Tubbs (1851–1930) was a popular fixture in the gambling parlors of
America's Wild West. Best known as “Poker💴 Alice,” the English-born and American-raised
gambler traveled through the frontier boom towns of Colorado and the Dakotas, hitting
the saloons💴 and playing any miner, rancher, or cowhand who dared to take a seat at the
table.
An independent-minded woman who, as💴 “Poker Alice,” became something of a legend
in the proverbial “Wild West,” Alice Tubbs ran with the heavy-holstered men of💴 her era
and was said to have won more than a quarter of a million dollars during her lifetime.
Recalling💴 her unusual (for a woman) profession, Tubbs was quoted by Nolie Mumey in
Poker Alice: History of a Woman Gambler💴 in the West as remarking: “We were all gamblers
in those days; some staked theirs in mines, some in goods,💴 some in cattle, and some
with a pan on the streams. Well, I took mine at a table with a💴 deck of cards. You see,
a true gambler played because he loved the thrill he had on the turn of💴 a card, because
it tested his ability to out-wit and out-guess the other person.”
Followed Family to
Frontier
Poker Alice was born💴 Alice Ivers, and details of her first years are sketchy.
Most historians agree that she was born to Irish immigrants💴 in Devonshire, England, on
February 17, 1851, although some have posited that she was born in Virginia to
immigrant parents,💴 perhaps in 1853. Whatever the case, Poker Alice resided for a time
in Virginia and traveled west with her family💴 around 1870. Joining the wave that became
known as the “Gold Rush,” the Ivers family pulled up stakes and headed💴 to the Black
Hills region of South Dakota after prospectors there discovered silver and gold. Some
accounts report that the💴 family lived near Fort Meade, South Dakota; others indicate
that Ivers's father worked as a schoolmaster in Leadville, Colorado.
Around age💴 20,
Poker Alice married a mining engineer named Frank Duffield and the couple moved to an
isolated silver camp in💴 Lake City, Colorado. Eager for entertainment, she followed her
husband and his friends to the gaming parlors where she learned💴 to play faro, five-card
draw, and blackjack. The marriage did not last long; within a few years, Duffield died
in💴 a tunnel mine accident after a mischarge of dynamite. As a widow in a frontier town,
Poker Alice had few💴 options for earning a living. Her choices included running a
boardinghouse, becoming a prostitute, or working as a maid for💴 a wealthy mine owner.
Rather than following one of these paths, the recently widowed Alice Duffield bucked
the conventions of💴 the day and became a gambler.
Worked the Gambling Circuit
As a
gambler, Poker Alice now circulated among Colorado's mining camps, spending💴 time in
Alamosa, Leadville, Georgetown, and Central City. Smart enough to count cards, keep
track of what had been played,💴 and calculate odds, she was a natural gambler. One of
her favorite games was faro, a quick-action card game that💴 accommodated any number of
players, making it popular in the frontier towns. In faro, players bet against the
house. The💴 dealer— or “banker”—dealt two cards at a time (a winner and a loser) while
the players tried to predict which💴 cards would appear next.
To adapt to the hard life
in mining towns, men flocked to the gambling parlors each night💴 to drink, play cards,
and fight, all which eased the stress of a long day's work. A huge attraction for
💴 gambling houses, which often paid her to deal cards, Poker Alice soon drew crowds
wherever she went. She receivedR$25 a💴 night, plus a portion of the house winnings, and
everyone wanted to play against her. An anomaly, Alice dressed in💴 the high fashions of
the day but chewed on cigars while gambling, carried a pistol, and acted cold and
callous.💴 She refused to work on Sundays, though, much to the irritation of her
employers. After her shift ended with one💴 gambling house, Poker Alice would often visit
another, playing on her own rather than for the house. Whenever she amassed💴 a quantity
of money, she traveled east to New York City, treating herself to new clothes and a
trip to💴 the theater.
Settled down after Second Marriage
Around 1890, Poker Alice worked
at a saloon in Deadwood, South Dakota, where she developed💴 a deep-seated rival in
Warren G. Tubbs. A house painter, Tubbs supplemented his income by dealing and gambling
part-time. So💴 intense was the rivalry that the two did not speak even when they were
working together. One night at the💴 saloon, Poker Alice had her eye on Tubbs, who was
dealing across the way. When a drunken, irate gambler pulled💴 a knife on Tubbs, Alice
drew her pistol and shot him in the arm. Afterward, the two started dating and
💴 eventually married.
The Tubbs remained in Deadwood for several years, with Poker Alice
gambling and Tubbs painting to support the family.💴 They also had seven children. To
make money, they also traveled the mining-town circuit and gambled together. At some
point,💴 the Tubbs left Deadwood and settled on a ranch located 48 miles west of Sturgis,
South Dakota, viewing it as💴 a better environment in which to raise their children. They
lived there for only a few years, however; during the💴 great blizzard of 1910, Tubbs,
who suffered from tuberculosis, contracted pneumonia and died.
After the winter storm
subsided, Poker Alice loaded💴 her husband's frozen body into a wagon, hitched up the
horses, and drove into Sturgis where she pawned her wedding💴 ring to pay for the burial.
Afterward, she went to the local gambling hall and asked if she could work💴 a shift.
Poker Alice took the money she earned, bought back her wedding ring, and returned to
the family ranch.💴 She would fondly recall Tubbs as the love of her life.
Hedged Bets on
Poker Palace
After Tubbs's death, Poker Alice returned💴 to gambling full time. Hiring a
man named George Huckert to care for her ranch and livestock, she dealt faro💴 in Sturgis
and traveled to Deadwood to play on her own. Soon, Poker Alice and Huckert tied the
knot. Legend💴 has it that she married him because she owed him more thanR$1,000 in back
wages and decided it was easier💴 to marry him than pay up. They were married only a few
years; Huckert died in 1913.
Around this time, Poker💴 Alice opened her own “petite poker
palace” in a building located between Ford Meade and Sturgis. Although she called it💴 a
boardinghouse for single women, the place was actually a brothel: for entertainment,
the palace offered gambling, liquor, and women.💴 Business boomed, attracting miners from
Sturgis as well as soldiers passing through Fort Meade for training. Just as she had
💴 refused to deal poker on the Sabbath, she did not open the palace on Sunday. Instead,
Poker Alice hosted a💴 Bible study for the women she employed.
Poker Alice ran into
trouble during the summer of 1913, as the result of💴 a feud with Troop K cavalry
soldiers from Fort Meade. Some reports indicate that she refused to let the soldiers💴 in
because they mistreated the women; others indicate that the men wanted in, even though
it was a Sunday and💴 the establishment was closed. Whatever the case, on the night of
July 16 some Fort Meade soldiers cut the electricity💴 to Poker Alice's palace and threw
rocks through several windows. Alice got her gun and aimed several shots at these
💴 delinquents, severely injuring one soldier and killing another. The sheriff arrested
Poker Alice and seven of the women living at💴 the palace, and Alice stood trial but was
acquitted on the grounds that she had acted in self-defense.
After the ruckus💴 of the
trial subsided, Poker Alice reopened her establishment and continued to offer gambling
and entertainment. After Prohibition hit the💴 United States in 1920, she added bootleg
whiskey to the mix. She was still working in her 70s, taking the💴 name Alice Tubbs in
honor of her favorite husband. By this point in her life, she had traded fancy dresses
💴 for a costume incorporating a khaki skirt, a man-styled shirt, and a broad-brimmed felt
hat resembling those worn by the💴 cavalry. She was arrested from time to time, whenever
the “reformers” came to clean up the town. Charged with running💴 a house of ill repute
and/or selling liquor (which was against the law during Prohibition), Alice paid the
required fines💴 and soon reopened for business.
Arrested, Jailed, and Pardoned
Poker
Alice was 75 when the law finally caught up with her. Arrested💴 and convicted of running
a brothel and selling liquor, she now faced a six-month prison term. Because of her age
💴 and gender, South Dakota Governor W.J. Bulow, granted her a pardon, stating, “I can't
send a white haired old woman💴 to jail on a liquor charge,” according to the Bismarck
Tribune.
After her conviction, Poker Alice retired from business and moved💴 to Sturgis,
where she lived modestly and raised flowers, chickens, and angora cats. At the end of
her life, she💴 was reportedly depressed and thought to be suicidal. According to Mumey's
biography, Poker Alice summed up her life this way:💴 “I've had nearly a quarter of a
million dollars pass through my hands during my gambling career. A little of💴 it stuck;
most of it went.”
Suffering from gallstones at age 79, Poker Alice gambled on surgery
but died. Following her💴 death on February 27, 1930, in Rapid City, South Dakota, she
was buried in Sturgis. As for those who hoped💴 to claim a portion of her assets after
her death, Poker Alice addressed them in her will, dated September 1927.💴 As Mumey wrote
in her biography, Alice's will read: “I hereby specifically disinherit each and every
one of my relatives💴 and kin, for the reason that they have not contributed to my
welfare and happiness during the declining years of💴 my life, nor have they made any
effort to inquire as to my welfare for a great number of years.”💴 In settling her
estate, Poker Alice gave her chickens to one neighbor friend and her crops to
another.
Those interested in💴 seeing Poker Alice's pistol can visit the Ralph Foster
Museum at the College of the Ozarks in Point Lookout, Missouri,💴 with her .44-caliber
Colt Frontier (serial number 126200) on display. Allegedly, it is the same gun she used
to save💴 her future husband and the same gun she used against the Fort Meade soldiers.
For those seeking a more intimate💴 understanding of her life, Poker Alice's
clapboard-sided Sturgis home was still open as a bed and breakfast in 2024.
Books
Mumey,💴 Nolie, Poker Alice: History of a Woman Gambler in the West, Artcraft Press,
1951.
Periodicals Bismarck Tribune, February 28, 1930, “‘Poker💴 Alice’ Tubbs Draws Death
in Big Gamble with Her Surgeon.” Huron Weekly State Spirit (Huron, SD), July 17, 1913,
“Killed💴 from Resort at Fort Meade.” Wild West, April 2008, Charles Zehnder, “College of
the Ozarks Has Legendary Guns,” pp. 66–67.□
