Who are the 5 women who made casino history
Although in the world casino scene, there is a strong presence of men ready to challenge fate, some women have decided to change their lives by becoming not only great players, but real symbols for all female players in the world. . While we have already seen who the best players are in Blackjack, poker and other casino games, these women have given these champions a run for their money as well, becoming undisputed champions in the world of gambling .
Whether it’s an online casino or a brick-and-mortar casino, these 5 women have changed the history of casinos by remaining forever in the mind and in the collective imagination as have already done by the likes of Phil Ivey .
1. Eleanor Dumont
By Eleanor Dumont you do not know the true place of birth as well as his past. Some people say she was born in France while others say in New Orleans, Louisiana. Another hypothesis supported by her appearance is the possibility that she was a descendant of French Creole emigrants. The only certainty about her birth is the year, that is 1829, and the real name of this woman, Simone Jules , which was then changed in her twenties. She is certainly one of those revolutionary women for her time and 5 women who made casino history. She arrived in California in 1854 in Nevada City and quickly became very famous as a player and entrepreneur. Perhaps she was the greatest player in the California Gold Rush era .
Eleanor became famous for opening a gambling hall called Vingt-et-un in Nevada City. Plenty of men from all over California ventured up to its gambling hall for its beauty and unique charm. In fact, he had a thick but thin mustache line on his upper lip. In his club you could play poker and many other games that were already famous at the time. The great success of Vingt-et-un covered her in gold to such an extent that a famous player did not ask her to go into business with her. Together with Dave Tobin he opened Dumont’s Place . It yielded a lot of money to the two but was closed due to the end of the gold rush.
At the end of this adventure he began to move around the various cities of the United States trying to increase his bankroll through the various casino games in the rooms of Bodie , Fort Benton and many other cities. Due to his much longer stay in Bannack, his mustache became thicker and thicker to the point that it became a symbol and attraction for local players. At that time she was given the nickname of Madame Mustache .
In 1860 she became a brothel lady and had her employees parade in incredible carriages. This caused considerable disappointment among the various women of the cities where she was an entrepreneur.
In 1870 he bought a ranch in Carson City and fell in love with a man named Jack. A few years later Jack stole all of her money and ran away. Left without a capital, she tried to buy it back through gambling but got into debt for an amount that was impossible for her not only to obtain but also to cover. He died of an overdose, it is thought of suicide, in 1879 in Bodie .
2. Poker Alice
Alice Ivers Duffield Tubbs Huckert, known as Poker Alice , was an English female poker player famous in the Western United States. She was born in England in 1851 in Devonshire but her family since she was little moved to Virginia , United States. When the move took place, Alice was only 12 years old. She went to school and then to a boarding school to become a refined lady. While he was in his teens there was a new move, but this time to Leadville .
As a young man she met Frank Duffield , her future husband and a poker-loving mechanical engineer. It was he who introduced her to the world of poker, often being accompanied to the gambling halls. Initially she observed and studied the techniques of her husband and his friends who played, then little by little she began to play too. Frank was killed by a charge of dynamite at work and only after the death of her first husband did he start playing poker diligently as a professional poker player .
Having economic problems he tried different jobs but decided to bet everything on the world of gambling and poker. She became a professional player and dealer in one of Bob Ford’s saloons , the one who killed the multi-wanted Jesse James . She became famous for her skill and fairness in the game, she also had a reputation as a respectable woman as she never played poker on Sundays. She was given the name Poker Alice for her skill. Some nights he managed to win up to $ 6,000 for a total amount of about $ 250,000 or $ 3 million today.
In addition to being a poker player, she also quickly became an entrepreneur opening Poker’s Palace in Fort Meade. The saloon offered games such as poker and blackjack, distilled spirits and escorts. Also in this case, Sunday was not worked as it was sacred and a religious holiday. One day due to drunk and unruly soldiers Alice fired a shot to calm them but ended up wounding and consequently killing one. This gesture led her to prison with a quick and painless stay thanks to reading the Bible and smoking cigars. After the trial the saloon was closed and she was arrested several times on suspicion of wandering and smuggling.
He died in 1930 in Rapid City of complications from a gallbladder operation.
3. Kitty Leroy
Kitty Leroy was born in Michigan in 1850, but her real birthplace is unknown. Her fame is due not only to being a famous player but also to having been an excellent dancer . She began her career as a dancer as early as 10 and at 14 she began to dance frequently in the saloon. She was very famous for having an almost infallible aim, in fact she fired pistols from an early age . He got married for the first time at fifteen but the marriage was wrecked in no time and he headed to Dallas for a new life.
At twenty, now of age, she remarried again and continued to work as a dancer. It quickly became one of the most important attractions in the city, but stopped dancing to become a dealer in Faro . She quickly became a very famous dealer because she liked to dress in men’s or Roma clothes to give a distinctive touch to the game.
A short time later Kitty and her husband went to live in California where she met another man whom she fell in love with. After failing her entrepreneurial career with her second husband, she left him for the man she fell in love with. The relationship between the two was not rosy and according to a legend , after a quarrel, she asked him to challenge each other to a duel with guns . The man refused because she was a woman, so she disguised herself as a man and he accepted the duel. Unfortunately, or because he did not want to fight the woman he loved, the man did not take out his gun and voluntarily let himself be shot by Kitty. Not dying immediately, Kitty called a priest and got married to the dying man who died a few days later.
After the unfortunate fate of her third husband she moved to Deadwood where she worked as a chaperone in a Mollie Johnson brothel . Having obtained a contiguous sum, she opened the Mint Gambling Saloon and in addition to working as an entrepreneur she was occasionally an escort. The Saloon was a notable success. There she married for the fourth time with a gold digger but even this marriage did not last long. In 1877 he married for the fifth and last time to Samuel R. Curley, a player. Samuel was a very jealous man to the point that one day, due to suspicions of his wife’s extramarital affairs, he shot her and killed her .
Kitty Leroy’s character is also mentioned in Deadwood , an HBO television series.
4. Jennifer Harman
Jennifer Harman is one of the 5 women who have made casino history . It was born in Reno in 1964, in the United States, in one of the 7 cities with the most casinos in the world . Harman is one of the most famous American female poker players. Since she was little she has always played or seen relatives play poker, in fact at the age of 8 she played a game for the first time learning poker rules and tricks for beginners . In adolescence she underwent surgery due to a rare kidney disease that led her to undergo a transplant.
After graduation she started working as a waitress in casinos and in the evening, at the end of the shift, she stayed to play a few games. In the following years he enrolled in biology at Nevada University but left his studies seeing more profit in professional poker. He began playing cash game tables and met illustrious players such as Doyle Brunson , Daniel Negreanu and Chip Reese on various occasions . Thanks to these friendships he learned poker strategies that will be fundamental to his career. In 2000 he participated in the 2000 WSOP where he got his first bracelet. He also tried playing online poker with good results. In 2000 he married Marco Traniello, one of the7 most famous Italian casino players .
In 2004 she was forced to stop for a while due to kidney problems . In 2007 he starred in The Rules of the Game , directed by Curtis Hanson and starring Eric Bana and Drew Barrymore. In 2013 he separated from the Gaeta poker player. She currently continues to play poker and collaborates with other colleagues as an author of books on poker .
5. Barbara Enright
Barbara Enright was born in Los Angeles in 1949 and at the age of four she approached the most famous casino game: poker. As a child she played five card draw with her older brother , an ancient version of Texas Hold’em that can be assimilated to Italian poker . To support her family that was not comfortable for the Los Angeles lifestyle, she worked as a hairdresser, waitress and bartender, sometimes doing 3 jobs together. She began her career as a female poker player in 1976. She started playing part time and not assiduously but the profit from poker was greater than that from the 3 jobs. So she quit her job and became a professional player.
Barbara Enright is famous for being the only woman to make a WSOP US $ 10,000 no limit hold’em Main Event final table . Unfortunately he never got the first position, stopping in 5th place. He similarly managed to land a cash position in a satellite poker tournament at a WSOP online casino. She was the first woman to receive two WSOP bracelets , then later broke her own record by becoming the first woman to earn 3.
She was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2007 , the same year Phil Hellmuth was inducted, and was the first woman to be inducted into this ranking. He later participated in the poker TV series Poker Royale: Battle of the Ages.
Since 2018, his winnings have amounted to $ 1,650,000 for live tournaments alone. is in a relationship with poker player Max Shapiro. She is currently a poker player, motivational speaker and editor-in-chief of Woman Poker Player magazine , as well as ambassador for the Poker League of Nations