Women Gamblers in the Old West

Gambling wasn't just a man's game.  Woman also played, dealt, and ran businesses centered around fast-paced games of chance.  Woman like Eleanor Dumont, referred to "Madam Mustache," started establishments in several states including Montana and South Dakota.

These women were as tough as any man.  One of them stands out, Kitty LeRoy, who opened the Mint Gambling Saloon in Deadwood, South Dakota.  Her entire life was marked by gunfire and danger.  She was shot in by her fifth husband, Samuel Curley, who then killed himself.

 The black-and-white photo is courtesy of the South Dakota Historical Society (http://www.sangres.com/history/pokeralice.htm) [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons

Among the most well-known woman gamblers was Colorado's Poker Alice, who after the death of her husband began playing poker to support herself.  Alice discovered she had a certain skill at cards; she was a good player and a lucky one.  Alice began to expand her operation, traveling and gambling all over the West.  She ended up in Deadwood, South Dakota, where she became a local legend.  Her "poker face" or deadpan expression gave her great advantage.

In Deadwood Alice met her second husband, Warren Tubbs, and for a while she gave up gambling to help him with the ranch.  In 1910 Tubbs died of pneumonia--she had to hock her wedding ring to pay the burial expenses.  Again penniless, she returned to the poker table.

Read about the women who made up the Old West in Tainted Ladies: Female Outlaws, Renegade Women and Soiled Doves of the Wild West  Only $1.99

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