"Place your bets, place your bets . . ." From the muddy cowtowns of Montana to the posh parlors of Deadwood and Tombstone, past a succession of swinging batwing doors to the smoke-filled rooms in the back, some of the most colorful ladies in the Wild West also happened to be some of the shrewdest gamblers. With her inimitable instinct for a good story, Chris Enss points her pen toward fifteen of the most fascinating characters to ever flip a hole card or lace a corset. "Poker" Alice Ivers, for instance, checked and raised her way through some of the roughest mining towns in the West, while Lottie Deno, the prettiest faro dealer to ever turn a card, "bucked the tiger" all the way from Texas to Alaska. And who could ever bet against Eleanora Dumont, a twenty-one dealer known far and wide as "Madam Moustache"?
Notable female gamblers are few in number, but their legacy left an indelible mark on the history of the Old West. The Lady Was a Gambler is a tribute to those women and how they played the game.
Notable female gamblers are few in number, but their legacy left an indelible mark on the history of the Old West. The Lady Was a Gambler is a tribute to those women and how they played the game.