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Created page with "'''Alice Ivers Tubbs''', commonly known as '''Poker Alice''' (February 17, 1851 - February 27, 1930) was considered to have been the best known female poker player in the [[A..."
'''Alice Ivers Tubbs''', commonly known as '''Poker Alice''' (February 17, 1851 - February 27, 1930) was considered to have been the best known female [[poker]] player in the [[American West]]. A native of
Devonshire]], [[England]], she emigrated with her family to [[Virginia]] when she was a small girl. When Alice was in her teens, the Iverses relocated to Leadville, [[Colorado]].<ref name=alice>{{cite web|url=http://www.legendsofamerica.com/we-pokeralice.html|title=Kathy Weiser, "Poker Alice - Famous Frontier Gambler"|publisher=legendsofamerica.com|accessdate=May 10, 2012}}</ref name=ivers>Another source maintains that Alice was born not in England but two years later in 1853 in Virginia to [[Ireland|Irish]] immigrant parents.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sangres.com/history/pokeralice.htm|title=Poker Alice Ivers|publisher=sangres.com|accessdate=May 10, 2012}}</ref>
==Background==
When she was twenty, the petite, attractive Alice married the mining engineer and avid gambler Frank Duffield. Alice joined her husband on his gambling excursions and quickly learned to master both poker and [[faro]]. When Frank was
killed in an explosion, Alice began to earn her livelihood as a professional gambler. Like her father, she could have been a schoolteacher, but there were no schools yet organized in Leadville, the population of which had reached 35,000 during a [[silver]] rush. Sought after as both a dealer and a player, she was given the sobriquet "Poker Alice." In addition to Leadville, she worked in Alamosa, Central City, Georgetown, Colorado, and Trinidad, Colorado.<ref name=alice/>
Fashionably dressed, Alice packed a .38 revolver and began to smoke cigars. She was welcome in the gambling halls because her presence drew more interested patrons. She claimed to have religious beliefs which made her avoid engaging in gambling on Sundays. She also worked for a time at the Gold Dust Gambling House in Silver City in the [[New Mexico]] Territory. Her winnings there enabled her to travel to [[New York City]], where she embellished her wardrobe.<ref name=alice/>
On returning from New York, Alice was hired as a dealer in Bob Ford's saloon in Creede in Mineral County in southwestern Colorado. Earlier, Ford had shot [[Jesse James]] to death for the reward money. Alice then arrived in [[Deadwood]], [[South Dakota]], about the time of statehood. There she met the dealer and gambler Warren G. Tubbs, who also for stable income painted houses in nearby Sturgis, South Dakota.<ref name=alice/>
==Later years==
After a period of time, Alice yielded to Tubbs' persistent proposals of marriage. The couple homesteaded on a [[ranch]] near Sturgis and had seven children. During this time, Alice adjusted to her role as a rancher's wife and spent comparatively little time in the gambling halls. When Tubbs contracted [[tuberculosis]], Alice did her best to nurse him back to health, but he died in 1910 and was buried in Sturgis. She returned to the gambling houses to earn a living and married for a third time, However, George Huckert, her ranch manager, also soon died. Alice was hence a three-time widow.<ref name=alice/>
During national [[prohibition]], Alice opened "Poker's Palace" near Sturgis, which offered [[prostitution]] despite her claim of Christianity. When a drunken soldier from nearby Fort Meade, South Dakota, caused trouble in the establishment, Alice shot the man dead. She was subsequently acquitted on grounds of self-defense, but the saloon was closed. In her seventies, Alice continued to gamble, but gone were the fashionable dresses of her younger years. Instead she donned mostly men's clothing in the tradition of another South Dakota western figure, [[Calamity Jane]]. Alice appeared at various western festivals and celebrations, including one in [[Omaha, Nebraska|Omaha]], [[Nebraska]]. She once said that she would rather gamble than eat.<ref name=alice/>
In her later years, she continued to operate a house of prostitution, having claimed that her patrons included members of the [[Grand Army of the Republica]], the [[Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks]], and even [[Methodist]] ministers. Gamblers at the time wielded a high social status and pay scale. While running the house of prostitution, she was often seen in pubic as a well-known card player in Deadwood, a town which tolerated gambling and prostitution until 1987.<ref name=ivers/> Finally in 1926, at the age of seventy-five, she was sentenced to prison for repeated violations. However, [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] [[governor of South Dakota|Governor]] [[Carl Gunderson]] [[pardon|pardoned]] her. Gunderson was then unseated in the 1926 gubernatorial election by the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]], [[William J. Bulow]], who was later a [[U.S. senator]].<ref name=alice/><ref>List of governors of South Dakota: Gunderson (1925-1927); Bulow (1927-1931)</ref>
==Death and legacy==
In 1930, at the age of seventy-nine, Alice died in [[Rapid City, South Dakota|Rapid City]] of complications from [[gall bladder]] surgery. She is interred at St. Aloysius Cemetery in Sturgis.<ref name=alice/>Her long-vacant house was scheduled to be demolished when a businessman purchased it and relocated the structure to Junction Avenue in Sturgis, where it is a [[bed and breakfast]] inn.<ref name=ivers/>
The character Poker Alice has been romanticized in film and television by such actresses as [[Gloria Manon]], [[Susan Sullivan]], [[Elizabeth Taylor]], and [[Barbara Stuart]]. Sullivan appeared as Poker Alice in the 1978 [[Western (genre)|western]] [[television movie]], ''[[The New Maverick]]'', with [[James Garner]], [[Charles Frank]], and [[Jack Kelly (actor)|Jack Kelly]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077985/|title=''The New Maverick'' (1978)|publisher=[[Internet Movie Data Base]]|accessdate=May 10, 2012}}</ref> Taylor played "Alice Moffit" in a later television film, ''Poker Alice,'' which aired in 1987.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000072/|title=Elizabeth Taylor|publisher=Internet Movie Data Base|accessdate=May 10, 2012}}</ref> Stuart played the part in three 1960 episodes episodes of the [[CBS]] [[television series]], ''[[The Texas (TV series)|The Texan]]'', starring [[Rory Calhoun]] as the fictitious wanderer Bill Longley.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0835651/|title=Barbara Stuart|publisher=Internet Movie Data Base|accessdate=May 10, 2012}}</ref>
Poker Alice claimed to have won honestly more than $250,000 at the gaming tables: "Praise the Lord and place your bets. I'll take your money with no regrets."<ref name=alice/>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Poker Alice}}
[[Category:1851 births]]
[[Category:1930 deaths]]
[[Category: People of the American Old West]]
[[Category: Wild west shows]]
[[Category: American ranchers]]
[[Category: Poker players]]
[[Category: American gamblers]]
[[Category: People from Devon]]
[[Category: People from Leadville, Colorado]]
[[Category: People from Alamosa, Colorado]]
[[Category: People from Georgetown, Colorado]]
[[Category: People from Trinidad, Colorado]]
[[Category: People from Silver City, New Mexico]]
[[Category: People from Creede, Colorado]]
[[Category: People from Meade County, South Dakota]]
[[Category: Deaths from surgical complications]]
.
A her l
Devonshire]], [[England]], she emigrated with her family to [[Virginia]] when she was a small girl. When Alice was in her teens, the Iverses relocated to Leadville, [[Colorado]].<ref name=alice>{{cite web|url=http://www.legendsofamerica.com/we-pokeralice.html|title=Kathy Weiser, "Poker Alice - Famous Frontier Gambler"|publisher=legendsofamerica.com|accessdate=May 10, 2012}}</ref name=ivers>Another source maintains that Alice was born not in England but two years later in 1853 in Virginia to [[Ireland|Irish]] immigrant parents.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sangres.com/history/pokeralice.htm|title=Poker Alice Ivers|publisher=sangres.com|accessdate=May 10, 2012}}</ref>
==Background==
When she was twenty, the petite, attractive Alice married the mining engineer and avid gambler Frank Duffield. Alice joined her husband on his gambling excursions and quickly learned to master both poker and [[faro]]. When Frank was
killed in an explosion, Alice began to earn her livelihood as a professional gambler. Like her father, she could have been a schoolteacher, but there were no schools yet organized in Leadville, the population of which had reached 35,000 during a [[silver]] rush. Sought after as both a dealer and a player, she was given the sobriquet "Poker Alice." In addition to Leadville, she worked in Alamosa, Central City, Georgetown, Colorado, and Trinidad, Colorado.<ref name=alice/>
Fashionably dressed, Alice packed a .38 revolver and began to smoke cigars. She was welcome in the gambling halls because her presence drew more interested patrons. She claimed to have religious beliefs which made her avoid engaging in gambling on Sundays. She also worked for a time at the Gold Dust Gambling House in Silver City in the [[New Mexico]] Territory. Her winnings there enabled her to travel to [[New York City]], where she embellished her wardrobe.<ref name=alice/>
On returning from New York, Alice was hired as a dealer in Bob Ford's saloon in Creede in Mineral County in southwestern Colorado. Earlier, Ford had shot [[Jesse James]] to death for the reward money. Alice then arrived in [[Deadwood]], [[South Dakota]], about the time of statehood. There she met the dealer and gambler Warren G. Tubbs, who also for stable income painted houses in nearby Sturgis, South Dakota.<ref name=alice/>
==Later years==
After a period of time, Alice yielded to Tubbs' persistent proposals of marriage. The couple homesteaded on a [[ranch]] near Sturgis and had seven children. During this time, Alice adjusted to her role as a rancher's wife and spent comparatively little time in the gambling halls. When Tubbs contracted [[tuberculosis]], Alice did her best to nurse him back to health, but he died in 1910 and was buried in Sturgis. She returned to the gambling houses to earn a living and married for a third time, However, George Huckert, her ranch manager, also soon died. Alice was hence a three-time widow.<ref name=alice/>
During national [[prohibition]], Alice opened "Poker's Palace" near Sturgis, which offered [[prostitution]] despite her claim of Christianity. When a drunken soldier from nearby Fort Meade, South Dakota, caused trouble in the establishment, Alice shot the man dead. She was subsequently acquitted on grounds of self-defense, but the saloon was closed. In her seventies, Alice continued to gamble, but gone were the fashionable dresses of her younger years. Instead she donned mostly men's clothing in the tradition of another South Dakota western figure, [[Calamity Jane]]. Alice appeared at various western festivals and celebrations, including one in [[Omaha, Nebraska|Omaha]], [[Nebraska]]. She once said that she would rather gamble than eat.<ref name=alice/>
In her later years, she continued to operate a house of prostitution, having claimed that her patrons included members of the [[Grand Army of the Republica]], the [[Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks]], and even [[Methodist]] ministers. Gamblers at the time wielded a high social status and pay scale. While running the house of prostitution, she was often seen in pubic as a well-known card player in Deadwood, a town which tolerated gambling and prostitution until 1987.<ref name=ivers/> Finally in 1926, at the age of seventy-five, she was sentenced to prison for repeated violations. However, [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] [[governor of South Dakota|Governor]] [[Carl Gunderson]] [[pardon|pardoned]] her. Gunderson was then unseated in the 1926 gubernatorial election by the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]], [[William J. Bulow]], who was later a [[U.S. senator]].<ref name=alice/><ref>List of governors of South Dakota: Gunderson (1925-1927); Bulow (1927-1931)</ref>
==Death and legacy==
In 1930, at the age of seventy-nine, Alice died in [[Rapid City, South Dakota|Rapid City]] of complications from [[gall bladder]] surgery. She is interred at St. Aloysius Cemetery in Sturgis.<ref name=alice/>Her long-vacant house was scheduled to be demolished when a businessman purchased it and relocated the structure to Junction Avenue in Sturgis, where it is a [[bed and breakfast]] inn.<ref name=ivers/>
The character Poker Alice has been romanticized in film and television by such actresses as [[Gloria Manon]], [[Susan Sullivan]], [[Elizabeth Taylor]], and [[Barbara Stuart]]. Sullivan appeared as Poker Alice in the 1978 [[Western (genre)|western]] [[television movie]], ''[[The New Maverick]]'', with [[James Garner]], [[Charles Frank]], and [[Jack Kelly (actor)|Jack Kelly]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077985/|title=''The New Maverick'' (1978)|publisher=[[Internet Movie Data Base]]|accessdate=May 10, 2012}}</ref> Taylor played "Alice Moffit" in a later television film, ''Poker Alice,'' which aired in 1987.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000072/|title=Elizabeth Taylor|publisher=Internet Movie Data Base|accessdate=May 10, 2012}}</ref> Stuart played the part in three 1960 episodes episodes of the [[CBS]] [[television series]], ''[[The Texas (TV series)|The Texan]]'', starring [[Rory Calhoun]] as the fictitious wanderer Bill Longley.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0835651/|title=Barbara Stuart|publisher=Internet Movie Data Base|accessdate=May 10, 2012}}</ref>
Poker Alice claimed to have won honestly more than $250,000 at the gaming tables: "Praise the Lord and place your bets. I'll take your money with no regrets."<ref name=alice/>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Poker Alice}}
[[Category:1851 births]]
[[Category:1930 deaths]]
[[Category: People of the American Old West]]
[[Category: Wild west shows]]
[[Category: American ranchers]]
[[Category: Poker players]]
[[Category: American gamblers]]
[[Category: People from Devon]]
[[Category: People from Leadville, Colorado]]
[[Category: People from Alamosa, Colorado]]
[[Category: People from Georgetown, Colorado]]
[[Category: People from Trinidad, Colorado]]
[[Category: People from Silver City, New Mexico]]
[[Category: People from Creede, Colorado]]
[[Category: People from Meade County, South Dakota]]
[[Category: Deaths from surgical complications]]
.
A her l