A woman ahead of her times
o John Brand
Poker Alice did not shy away from trouble either and always carried
a .38 revolver. On one occasion when a drunken miner threatened her
with a knife, Alice pulled out her .38 and put a bullet in the miner's arm.
Her poker playing skills were becoming widely known throughout the
west and she began to travel playing poker wherever she was.
Eventually, Alice went to New Mexico where she won $6,000 at the Gold
Dust Gambling House. She went on to New York for a while and finally
ended up in Deadwood, South Dakota.
Poker Alice would eventually remarry in Deadwood to Warren G.
Tubbs, a painter. They met in a gambling hall, of course. After the couple
married, they moved to a ranch in Sturgis. Alice became a wife, mother
and rancher far away from the gambling halls and the poker tables. She
focused on caring for her family and her husband who had been
diagnosed with tuberculosis. Alice stayed by Warren’s side caring for her
ailing husband until he finally succumbed to pneumonia in the winter of
1910.
Once again, Alice went back to the poker tables
to support herself and her family. She was in and
out of gambling halls and even owned a saloon.
She eventually would wind up in jail (a few different times) for breaking up a fight with her .38
revolver.
Alice underwent a gall bladder operation in Rapid City and died of complications on
February 27, 1930. At age 79, Alice Ivers Tubbs,
“Poker Alice”, had anted up for the last time.
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