The Ballad of Poker Alice

She was a wily cigar chompin' gambler with the moniker of Poker Alice, Renowned throughout the west for her skill in many a gamblin' palace! Poker Alice had a good head for countin' and with her very cunnin' guile, (Plus her beauty), she mesmerized her opponents, amassin' quite a pile! Poker Alice worked in saloons across the west as a faro and poker dealer. She worked in Creede, Colorado for Bob Ford, that notorious stealer! Because of her pious rearin' as a girl, she refused to work on Sundays, But she was back smokin' a two-dollar stogie and dealin' cards on Mondays! She drifted to Deadwood, South Dakota, where her notoriety was well known, And married a house painter named Tubbs who was a deft gambler on his own! Later she established a brothel near Fort Mead Army Post with her ill-gotten gain. The place was small and she needed funds to fix the 'house' on Pleasure Lane! To expand and recruit 'soiled doves' from Kansas City she applied for a loan. The banker scratched his skull sayin', "I dunno! That's a risk into the unknown!" She convinced him notin' that The Grand Old Army had an encampment near, And for the soldiers' bent for visitin' hog ranches, he had nothin' at all to fear! Things didn't go well since she plumb forgot The Methodist Preachers' Convention, Convened each and every year and she hadn't figured on that intervention! Poker Alice's fame and notoriety followed her well beyond her wanin' years. She died after a gall bladder operation with her 'house' payments in arrears! Robert L. Hinshaw, CMSgt, USAF, Retired © All Rights Reserved Placed No. 4 in Don Johnson's " Your Old Ballad Or Rhyme - Best Of All Time" Contest July 2011