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True Stories of Notorious Women of the Old West
Alice Ivers studying a winning hand
“It was the damnest faro game I ever saw. The game see-sawed back and forth with Alice always picking up the edge; a few times it terminated only long enough for the player to eat a sandwich and wash it down with boiler maker.” Gambler Marion Speer’s comments on the faro game between Alice Ivers and Jack Hardesty, 1872.
A steady stream of miners, ranchers, and cowhands filtered in and out of the Number 10 Saloon in Deadwood, South Dakota. An inexperienced musician playing an out-of-tune accordion squeezed out a familiar melody while ushering the pleasure seekers inside. Burlap curtains were pulled over the dusty windows, and fans that hung down from the ceiling turned lazily.
A distressed mahogany bar stood along one wall of the business, and behind it was a surly looking bartender. He was splashing amber liquid into glasses as fast as he could. A row of tables and chairs occupied the area opposite the bar. Every seat was filled with a card player. Among the male gamblers was one woman. Everyone called her Poker Alice. She was an alarming beauty, fair-skinned and slim. She had one eye on the cards she was dealing and another on the men seated at a game two tables down.
