Three of the more famous women gamblers of this time were Calamity Jane, Poker Alice, and Madame Mustache. Before long, many of the Old West mining camps such as Deadwood, Leadville, and Tombstone became as well known for gunfights over card games than they did for their wealth of gold and silver ore. Find a Grave, database and images (accessed ), memorial page for Alice Huckert “Poker Alice” Ivers Tubbs (17 Feb 1851–27 Feb 1930), Find a Grave Memorial no. 28982213, citing Saint Aloysius Cemetery, Sturgis, Meade County, South Dakota, USA; Maintained by Find A Grave. Why Poker Alice? By Jerry Wilson. Editor's Note: This story is revised from the January/February 2003 issue of South Dakota Magazine. To order a copy or to subscribe, call 800-456-5117. Poker Alice had been dead for 19 years when Nick Schwebach was born. Infamous Deadwood: Poker Alice Tubbs. Deadwood was a rough and tumble gaming town not fit for a fine English lady. But that’s exactly where Ms. Alice Ivers found herself. Widowed and broke, this lady began playing poker to support herself. Nicknamed “Poker Alice,” she became a cigar-smoking, straight-faced, gambler who very rarely lost.
Poker Alice Tubbs was a professional gambler who played her cards in boom towns throughout the wild west.
Her stories of risk, and reward reveal the gritty history of towns like Creede, Leadville, and Central City in Colorado, Silver City in New Mexico, and Sturgis and Deadwood in South Dakota.
Alice Ivers
A lot of tales that “ain’t entirely true” have been spread, but Alice’s real story is even better than the tall tales you might have read. Join me, Liz Duckworth, an author, researcher, re-enactor, and devoted fan, and see the real west through the eyes of a lady gambler.