Famous female gamblers
Gambling has always had a very male-dominated image. This may be due to the fact that, in years gone by, women really weren’t allowed to do much. Victorian England, the expansion years in America, pretty much every around the world women were seen and not heard, were allowed to raise a family but not engage in hobbies and pursuits deemed ‘unseemly’ or ‘apt to affect their sensitive minds and constitutions’.
What a load of … well, the word I want to use is definitely unseemly so I’ll just say thank the goddess that things have changed.
Women have proven time and time again that they can kick a man’s ass(umptions) any day and there are many women out there who will take you down in game of blackjack, clean out over the poker table or just better winners at the races or fantasy football.
And while we think this may be a very recent turn of events, history has shown that these strong and capable women gamblers are nowhere near as ‘modern’ as we imagine.
Because women are like that. They don’t sit back and go “yes we will obey”. They go “ok, dear” and they can do what you do better than you do it.
The Online Casino Review team salute these women, these pioneers, these winners at the game of gambling. Choosing only 6 was tough but we decided a mix of the trailblazers with the current leaders will perfectly illustrate how women have shaped the gambling field for decades.
The top 6 women in gambling
Maria Gertrudis Barceló
The Wild West in the 1800s was a pretty lawless place apparently – and the perfect environment for a woman to throw aside the ‘conventions’ of the day and strike out on her own.
Not much is known about the early life of the famous gambler called “La Tules”. Some sources say she was born in Mexico around 1800. Some say she was French. But what is an indisputable fact is that Maria Gertrudis Barceló moved into New Mexico and became the owner and operator of one of the most popular gambling salons in the state.
From a watering hole and card den for tin miners in the Ortiz Mountains, she moved to Santa Fé to open a saloon that would attract miners, prospectors, soldiers and gamblers from all over – and lead to her detractors referring to her as the Queen of Sin.
Sin or not, La Tules would own and operate a string of casinos and saloons, and show her clientele that she was also a very competent and professional gambler herself, that left her very well off.
Lottie Deno
Lottie Deno started life as Carlotta Thompkins in 1840’s Kentucky, USA. She travelled extensively throughout her early adulthood but ended becoming one of the most famous gamblers in frontier-era Texas and New Mexico.
Lottie, also known as “Roul-Lottie” and “The Poker Queen”, challenged and beat some of the most legendary gamblers of the era – including the famous Doc Holliday of Gunfight at the OK Corral fame. Her skills at the tables allowed her to accrue quite a tidy sum of money during a time when women were most definitely not supposed to mix with the unsavoury characters that hung around the gambling halls and saloons.
Her name – Lottie Deno – came from the shortening of the Spanish word for money ‘dinero’. Lotta dinero … Lottie Deno … are we sure she wasn’t a Bond villain?
Alice Ivers
Poker Alice is possibly one of the best know female gamblers in frontier-era America. In her later years she was often found seen sitting at the poker tables in her casino/saloon/brothel, huge cigar jammed in the corner of her mouth, staring down some poor fool who had the misguided fortune to think he could take on one of the most accomplished poker players in South Dakota, USA.
Turning to professional poker to support herself after the death of her first husband, Poker Alice soon began drawing crowds of people who watched her take on and beat all challengers.
Her reputation for refusing to play on Sundays (on religious grounds) lent her an air of respectability with saloon owners although that didn’t stop her shooting to death a drunken soldier causing a ruckus at her own casino, Poker’s Palace, on a Sunday.
Judy Bayley
Judy Bayley is a Nevada icon – not because she is a great gambler at the tables but because she’s a great gambler in an industry!
In 1956, Judy Bayley and her husband opened the La Hacienda Casino located in Nevada. On her husband’s death in 1964, Judy took over the ownership of the casinos and became the first woman owner in Las Vegas history, and an icon to female gamblers and businesswomen everywhere. Remember, 1950s/60s America was only just beginning to recognise things like female empowerment, civil rights and the like. And Judy was playing in the big leagues.
Her business savvy, marketing insights and willingness to take a chance led to her becoming one of the most famous females in gambling history and the “First Lady of Gambling” to the Nevada people.
Vanessa Selbst
While many women on our list combined business and gambling to achieve success, Vanessa Selbst did it all on the back of an incredible talent for poker.
Vanessa is one of the most famous figures on the World Series of Poker circuit, or at least she was before she retired to pursue other interests.
And what a way to go out! She made the World Series of Poker final table EIGHT times, has THREE World Series of Poker winners bracelets and has earned close to $12,000,000 in live tournament earnings.
Annette Obrestad
Annette Obrestad is the ultimate over-accomplisher. Not only is she a super-successful YouTuber, but she is also the youngest person ever to win a World Series of Poker championship bracelet.
Her stunning success, and world record, came at the 2007 World Series of Poker Europe when she was just 19 years old.
Watch out world
These are just a few of the women who have made their mark on the gambling world. And while we say ‘watch out’ it really is less of a warning than a heads-up. This is not something that has come as a surprise to the gambling world. We have seen them. We have played against them. And we have lost to them.
The myth that gambling is a man’s game was put to rest when ‘La Tules’ gave the frontier men the middle finger but these are just the famous figures. We guarantee that, throughout the long and storied history of gambling, there have always been women skilled and eager enough to take on the men and show the who is boss.
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