Catch Me If You Can (feat. Jaimee Paul) Poker Alice Yo Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rum (Beginning). Alice Ivers Duffield Tubbs Huckert (February 17, 1851 – February 27, 1930), better known as Poker Alice, was a poker player in the American West. Poker Alice is a 1987 American made-for-television western romance film directed by Arthur Allan Seidelman and starring Elizabeth Taylor, Tom Skerritt and George Hamilton.The film was shot on location in Old Tucson, Arizona. Poker Alice married George Huckert but George died in 1913 and that made Alice a widow for the third time. During Prohibition, Alice opened a saloon called “Poker’s Palace” the establishment was well known for gambling, liquor, and prostitution. The police closed down the house because of an incident and Alice spent some time in jail. Poker Alice Photos View All Photos (7) Movie Info. A Bible-toter (Elizabeth Taylor) wins cash and a cathouse while on a train with her cousin (George Hamilton) and a bounty hunter (Tom Skerritt).
“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 by the name of 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, a quick study, it wasn’t long before she was sitting in on the games, quickly demonstrating proficiency for poker and faro.
Leadville, Colorado at Dusk by Carol Highsmith.
A few years after their marriage, Alice’s husband, who worked as 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 flourishing 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 bedecked 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 went on, Alice began to puff on large black cigars, while still in her 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 she 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 made her way to Silver City, New Mexico, where she broke the bank at the Gold Dust Gambling House, winning some $6,000. Sometime later, she made a trip to New York City, which she often did after a large win, to replenish her wardrobe of fashionable clothing.
Afterward, she returned to Creede, Colorado, where she went to work as a dealer in Bob Ford’s saloon – the very 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 to see each other outside of 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. A painter by trade, Tubbs, along with 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.
Deadwood, South Dakota
During this time, Alice significantly reduced the amount of 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; however, 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 afterward, 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 were 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 once again make a living. She then hired a man named George Huckert to take care of 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 found herself widowed once again when Huckert died in 1913.
Sometime later, during Prohibition, Alice opened a saloon called “Poker’s Palace” between Sturgis and Fort Meade that provided not only gambling and liquor but also “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 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, Alice, who 75 years old at the time, was pardoned by the governor.
At the age of 79, she underwent a gall bladder operation in Rapid City but died of complications on February 27, 1930. She was buried at St. Aloysius Cemetery in Sturgis, South Dakota.
In her later years, Alice claimed to have won more than $250,000 at the gaming tables 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.”
“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 by the name of 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, a quick study, it wasn’t long before she was sitting in on the games, quickly demonstrating proficiency for poker and faro.
Leadville, Colorado at Dusk by Carol Highsmith.
A few years after their marriage, Alice’s husband, who worked as 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 flourishing 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 bedecked 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 went on, Alice began to puff on large black cigars, while still in her 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 she 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 made her way to Silver City, New Mexico, where she broke the bank at the Gold Dust Gambling House, winning some $6,000. Sometime later, she made a trip to New York City, which she often did after a large win, to replenish her wardrobe of fashionable clothing.
Afterward, she returned to Creede, Colorado, where she went to work as a dealer in Bob Ford’s saloon – the very 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 to see each other outside of 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. A painter by trade, Tubbs, along with 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.
Deadwood, South Dakota
During this time, Alice significantly reduced the amount of 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; however, 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 afterward, 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 were 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 once again make a living. She then hired a man named George Huckert to take care of 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 found herself widowed once again when Huckert died in 1913.
Sometime later, during Prohibition, Alice opened a saloon called “Poker’s Palace” between Sturgis and Fort Meade that provided not only gambling and liquor but also “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 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, Alice, who 75 years old at the time, was pardoned by the governor.
At the age of 79, she underwent a gall bladder operation in Rapid City but died of complications on February 27, 1930. She was buried at St. Aloysius Cemetery in Sturgis, South Dakota.
In her later years, Alice claimed to have won more than $250,000 at the gaming tables 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 Weiser/Legends of America, updated October 2019.
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Alice Ivers (1851-February 27, 1930), better known as Poker Alice, was a famous poker player. Her family moved from Devon, England, where she was born, to Virginia, United States, where she went to school and was raised. As an adult, Ivers moved to Leadville, Colorado where she met her husband Frank Duffield. Duffield was responsible for getting Ivers interested in poker, but he was killed a few years after they got married. Ivers made a name for herself by winning money from poker games in places like Silver City, New Mexico, and even working at a saloon that was owned by Bob Ford, the man who killed Jesse James[1]
Early Life[change | change source]
“Poker” Alice Ivers was born on February 17, 1851 in Devon, England to Irish Immigrants. Her family moved to Virginia when Alice was 12. As a young woman, she went to boarding school in Virginia to become a refined lady. While in her late teens, her family moved to Leadville, a city in the Colorado Territory.
Personal Life[change | change source]
It was in Leadville that Alice met Frank Duffield, whom she married at a young age. Frank Duffield was a mining engineer who played poker in his spare time. After just a few years of marriage, Duffield was killed in an accident while resetting a dynamite charge in a Leadville mine.
Ivers was known for splurging her winnings, as when she won a lot of money in Silver City and spent it all in New York. After all of her big wins, she would travel to New York and spend her money on clothes. She was very keen on keeping up with the latest fashions and would buy dresses to wear to play poker.
Alice met her next husband around 1890 when she was a dealer in Bedrock Tom’s saloon in Deadwood, South Dakota. When a drunken miner tried to attack her fellow dealer Warren G. Tubbs with a knife, Alice threatened him with her .38. After this incident, Tubbs and Ivers started a romance and were married soon after.
Poker Alice Deadwood
Alice Ivers and Warren Tubbs had 4 sons and 3 daughters together. Tubbs and Ivers did not want their children to be influenced by the world of poker, so they moved to a house just northeast of Sturgis on the Moreau River in South Dakota. Tubbs was not only a dealer, but a housepainter as well. It was most likely this house painting that caused him to fall sick with tuberculosis. Warren Tubbs died in 1910 in of pneumonia during a blizzard. To pay for his funeral, Alice had to pawn her wedding ring, which led her back to the poker world.
Alice’s third husband was George Huckert, who worked on her homestead taking care of the sheep. Huckert was constantly proposing to Ivers, yet for a while she did not agree. Eventually, however, Ivers owed Huckert $1,008, so she married him figuring that it would be cheaper than paying his back wages. Huckert died in 1913.
Poker Career[change | change source]
First husband Frank Duffield introduced Alice to poker when she accompanied him to his poker games in Leadville. For a while she just attended, watching and observing, but eventually she started to play and gamble along with the men. However, it wasn’t until after her first husband died that she started to play poker seriously.
Alice was in a tough financial position, and after failing in a few different jobs including teaching; she turned to poker to support herself financially. Alice would make money by gambling and working as a dealer. Ivers made a name for herself by winning money from poker games in places like Silver City, New Mexico, even working at a saloon that was owned by Bob Ford, the man who killed Jesse James.
By the time Ivers was given the name “Poker Alice,” she was drawing in large crowd to watch her play and men were constantly challenging her to play. Saloon owners liked that Ivers was a respectable woman who kept to her values. These values included her refusal to play poker on Sundays.
As her reputation grew, so did the amount of money she was making. Some nights she would even make $6,000, an incredibly large sum of money at the time. Alice claimed that she won $250,000, which would now be worth over three million dollars.
Ivers used her good looks to distract men at the poker table. She always had the newest dresses, and even in her 50s was considered a very attractive woman. She was also very good at counting cards and figuring odds, which helped her at the table.
Alice was known to always be carrying a gun with her, preferably her .38. She was also known to smoke a lot.
Poker's Palace and Jailtime[change | change source]
In 1910, Ivers opened “Poker’s Palace,” a saloon in Fort Meade, South Dakota, which offered gambling and liquor downstairs, and prostitution upstairs. The saloon was always closed on Sundays, due to Iver’s religious beliefs. However, in 1913, some drunken soldiers disobeyed Iver’s “no work on Sunday” rule and started to get unruly, chaotic, and destructive of the house. It was then that Ivers shot her gun, supposedly to quiet the soldiers down. The shot ended up killing one of the soldiers and injuring another, resulting in Iver’s arrest, along with the arrest of six of her ‘girls’.
Iver’s time spent in jail was short, but she got through it with the help of reading the bible and smoking cigars. At the trial, she claimed self-defense and was acquitted. After the trial, her saloon was shut down.
While in her 60s, Alice Ivers was arrested several times after the “Poker Palace” incident for being a madam, a gambler, and a bootlegger, as well as her drunkenness. She would comply with the law and pay her fines, but keep her business still. In 1928, she was arrested again for bootlegging and her repeated offenses of holding a brothel. Despite this sentence to prison, Ivers did not end up having to stay, because she was pardoned by then Governor Bulow of South Dakota who did so because of her old age.
Legacy[change | change source]
After being forced to retire by the anger of the military and other people who were upset with her blend of religious elements at her house in Sturgis, Alice’s health began to fail her. Alice Ivers died on February 27, 1930 in Rapid City after a gallbladder operation at the age of 79. Ivers was buried at the St. Aloysius Cemetery in Sturgis, South Dakota.
Poker Alice Band
References[change | change source]
- ↑'OLD WEST LEGENDS;Poker Alice - Famous Frontier Gambler'.
Poker Alice Gambler
