The Lady Was a Gambler: True Stories of Notorious Women of the Old West

by Chris Enss

Amidst mining camps, cow towns, desolate landscapes and filthy boomtowns were a succession of women who survived dangerous gambling games against ruthless rowdy men whose pride was staked on always having the upper hand. In the first book of its kind, author Chris Enss presents an action-filled true portrait of fifteen notorious women gamblers from the Old West. Among those profiled "Poker" Alice Ivers, the finest player bar none from Deadwood to Tombstone; Eleanora Dumont, the West's hottest twenty-one dealer; and Lottie Deno, the beautiful faro dealer who gambled all the way from Texas to Alaska. Enss describes the settings, and the stakes, with vintage photographs, as well as the popular games of the Poker, Faro, Dice, Monte, Craps, Chuck-A-Luck, and Fan Tan, among them. Their legacy had almost disappeared, but the recent surge in poker players coast to coast and the growth of gambling demanded that these real women, at long last, be remembered for the true adventurers, and winners, they made of themselves.Chris Enss is an award-winning screenwriter and author whose books include Buffalo Gals and How the West Was Worn. She lives in Grass Valley, California.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Westerns, Womens Studies, Biography

160 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2007

Reviews

[Joel Hawkins]

The (very short) tales of lovely lady gamblers.

Even if you are not at all interested in poker, gambling or the wild west, this book makes for a nice, quick, easy-on-the-grey matter read that you can get through in a single lazy afternoon. I got this book as part of a bundle when I sought out a copy of the poker memoir For Richer, For Poorer: A Love Affair with Poker by Victoria Coren. Though I didn't really want this book (it was simply the cheapest way of getting the book I wanted), I zipped through it with ease. Before reading this book, I was aware of the more famed ladies of the wild west, but this introduced me to a range of other lesser-known ladies. The reason for the not-so-great 3 star review however is simply that all of the stories in this book are far too brief. Each glorious gambler only gets 6 or 7 pages which either whizzes through their life story at warp or focuses on only one particular event in their life. Granted if one of these women catches your reading eye, you can always find more in-depth material elsewhere. However if you are looking for in-depth and detailed documentation of their lives, this is not the book for you.

However this is just my opinion. Go read it and see what you think.

[Janet]

I won "The Lady Was a Gambler" in a Goodreads giveaway. Unfortunately, a copy was not available for shipment but Chris Enss was kind enough to substitute copies of two of her other books "High Country Women" and "With Great Hope." The later was written with JoAnn Chartier. Thank you Chris Enss for your generosity, I am delighted.

I love history, and I especially enjoy finding histories of the women who came before us. Chris Enss' books are wonderful glimpses into the lives of the most interesting women you will ever read about. I started reading and couldn't stop. . "Behind every successful man, there was a woman" and the west would never have been won without the women Chris Enss writes about. Now that I have had a taste of her writing, I plan to read all of her books. I recommend these books to everyone who loves history and especially Western America

[Bruce]

An interesting little book with short biographies of several lady gamblers. All of them were intelligent, several were educated and from middling families. Some had fallen for the wrong man or otherwise had to make a living for themselves. They did what they could do best.

[Lynette]

Entertaining stories about gutsy women.

[Krista]

I finished this book the same day we visited Deadwood, SD. Fitting, I'd say.