Push through the swinging doors of a Wild West saloon and the scene is easy to imagine. A crowded bar, glasses of whiskey, cigar smoke hanging in the air and a group of men gathered around a table with cards in their hands and money on the line.
It is one of the most familiar images of the American West.
Gambling became closely associated with the frontier towns of the 19th century, and for good reason. Saloons, gambling halls and hotels provided places where miners, cowboys, ranch hands, merchants, travellers and professional gamblers could drink, socialise and try their luck.
But the reality of gambling in the West was broader than the endless poker games portrayed in Western films.
From faro and poker to dice and roulette, gambling was serious business — and wherever money changed hands, there were people looking for ways to win it.
Gambling on the Frontier
Gambling was already well established in America long before the era we now call the Wild West.
As settlers, prospectors and entrepreneurs moved west during the 19th century, gambling travelled with them.
Boomtowns created by mining, cattle and the railroads could attract large populations remarkably quickly. Many were filled with predominantly male workers who had arrived hoping to make money and had relatively few ways to spend their leisure time.
Saloons provided an answer.
They were places to drink, meet people, hear news and find entertainment. Gambling naturally became part of the attraction.
In some towns, gambling took place on little more than a table in the corner of a saloon. Elsewhere, dedicated gambling halls developed where significant amounts of money could change hands.
The Wild West Saloon
Not every saloon looked like the ones Hollywood later created.
Frontier establishments ranged from extremely basic drinking rooms to elaborate saloons with polished bars, mirrors, decorated interiors and professional entertainment.
In rapidly developing settlements, an early saloon might even operate from a tent or roughly constructed building.
As towns became wealthier, their drinking and gambling establishments could become considerably grander.
(Photo by Townsend Walton)
The bar remained the centre of many saloons, but gaming tables provided another important source of income and entertainment.
Depending on where you were, you might find cards being dealt, dice rolling across a table or a faro game attracting a crowd.
The familiar swinging saloon doors certainly existed, but they weren't a requirement for every drinking establishment in the West.
Like much of Western history, the reality varied enormously from town to town.
Faro Was King
Ask someone today to name a Wild West card game and they will probably say poker.
During much of the 19th-century West, however, faro was enormously popular.
The game was relatively straightforward and fast moving. Players placed bets on cards displayed on a layout while a dealer revealed cards from a deck to determine winning and losing wagers.
Unlike poker, players weren't competing directly against one another. They were betting against the house.
That made faro particularly well suited to saloons and gambling halls.
A table could accommodate several gamblers at once, games moved quickly and spectators could easily understand that money was being won and lost.
Faro tables became common sights in Western gambling establishments.
The game has largely disappeared from modern casinos, but during the frontier era it was one of America's best-known gambling games.
Poker in the Wild West
Poker was certainly played in the West, even if its later reputation sometimes overshadows other games.
Different forms of poker circulated during the 19th century, and the rules continued to develop as the game spread across the country.
For gamblers, poker offered something different from games played directly against the house.
You weren't simply playing your cards.
You were playing the other people at the table.
Reading opponents, deciding when to bet, knowing when to fold and convincing someone that your hand was stronger or weaker than it really was all became part of the game.
The poker table therefore fitted perfectly into the mythology of the West — individual players testing their nerve while money sat in the middle of the table.
Eventually, poker became almost inseparable from the popular image of the frontier saloon.
The Dead Man's Hand
Perhaps the most famous poker story of the Old West surrounds Wild Bill Hickok.
Hickok was a lawman, scout, gunfighter and gambler who became one of the legendary characters of the American frontier.
On 2 August 1876, he was playing poker in Deadwood in what was then Dakota Territory when Jack McCall approached him from behind and shot him dead.
According to the story that later became famous, Hickok had been holding two pairs — black aces and black eights.
That combination became known as the Dead Man's Hand.
Exactly what Hickok was holding has been debated, and the association between aces and eights and the name became established after his death rather than being securely documented at the table itself.
But the legend endured.
Few hands of cards are more closely associated with the Wild West.
Professional Gamblers
For some people, gambling wasn't simply entertainment.
It was a profession.
Professional gamblers travelled between towns looking for games and opportunities. Some cultivated a distinctive appearance, with smart clothes and carefully maintained manners separating them from the dust-covered workers who might arrive in town after weeks on the trail.
Success required more than luck.
A professional gambler needed to understand the games, calculate risk, recognise inexperienced opponents and remain composed when significant sums of money were at stake.
Reputation also mattered.
A gambler known to be skilled could command respect, while someone suspected of cheating could quickly find themselves in trouble.
In the frontier West, accusations at the gaming table could carry consequences well beyond losing a hand.
Women at the Gambling Tables
Although popular depictions of Western gambling tend to focus almost entirely on men, several women became famous gamblers in their own right.
One of the best known was Alice Ivers, better remembered as Poker Alice.
Born in England and raised in the United States, she became associated with gambling towns across the West and developed a reputation as a highly capable poker player.
Another colourful figure was Lottie Deno, whose life became surrounded by stories of gambling across Texas and other parts of the frontier.
Women professional gamblers were unusual enough to attract considerable attention, but their stories are a reminder that the gambling culture of the West was more varied than the traditional saloon scene often suggests.
Cheating the House
Where there is gambling, there are usually attempts to cheat.
The Wild West was no exception.
Dishonest dealers could manipulate games, while gamblers might use marked cards, hidden cards or work with accomplices.
Faro developed a particularly questionable reputation because the house controlled the equipment and the dealing.
That didn't mean every game was crooked, but players had good reason to be cautious about where they placed their money.
Cheating could also be dangerous.
In an environment where personal reputation mattered and many people carried weapons, being caught manipulating a game could lead to confrontation.
The romantic Hollywood idea of someone overturning the table and reaching for a revolver exaggerates everyday reality, but disputes over gambling and money certainly had the potential to become serious.
How Much Money Was Gambled?
There was no standard Wild West wager.
A worker might risk a relatively small amount for entertainment, while wealthy players and professional gamblers could put considerably more on the table.
What mattered was the value of the money to the person betting it.
For a ranch hand or cowboy who had just been paid after weeks or months of work, a night of drinking and gambling could quickly consume a substantial part of those wages.
Frontier towns often brought together people who had recently been paid and businesses designed to persuade them to spend.
Saloons, gambling halls and other entertainment establishments were well placed to take advantage.
A successful night could leave a gambler considerably richer.
A bad one could send them back to work with very little.
Whiskey, Cards and Entertainment
Gambling rarely existed in isolation.
Saloons offered a combination of drinking, gaming and social life.
Music might be played. People exchanged news and stories. Travellers met locals. Deals could be discussed and workers could spend their wages after long periods away from town.
In some establishments, food and accommodation were available as well.
This made the saloon an important social space in many frontier communities, even if it was hardly the only place where people gathered.
The image of whiskey and cards therefore has some basis in reality.
But saloons weren't simply rooms full of gunfighters waiting for an excuse to draw their revolvers.
Most customers were there for much more ordinary reasons.
They wanted a drink, some company and perhaps the chance to win a little money.
Were Wild West Saloons Really Violent?
Violence certainly existed in Western towns, and alcohol, gambling and personal disputes could be a dangerous combination.
But the idea that saloons routinely descended into enormous gunfights is largely a product of later storytelling.
A saloon owner had little to gain from customers shooting holes in the building or killing paying guests.
Many towns also introduced regulations concerning weapons, public behaviour and gambling.
That doesn't mean the West was peaceful. Assaults, shootings and murders happened, and some saloons developed notorious reputations.
But an ordinary night at the gambling table was much more likely to end with somebody losing their money than with everybody reaching for a six-shooter.
Hollywood simply found the second version more entertaining.
Gambling Towns of the West
Some Western settlements became particularly famous for gambling.
Deadwood attracted miners, entrepreneurs, gamblers and opportunists during the Black Hills Gold Rush.
Dodge City became associated with cattle, saloons, gambling and some of the most recognisable names of the Old West.
Tombstone grew rapidly after the discovery of silver and developed its own collection of saloons and gaming establishments.
Other mining camps, cattle towns and railroad settlements experienced similar patterns.
Money arrived.
Businesses followed.
And somewhere nearby, someone was willing to gamble it.
When the Games Began to Change
The wide-open gambling culture associated with parts of the frontier didn't last forever.
As Western settlements developed into established towns and cities, attitudes towards gambling changed.
Reform movements pushed for restrictions, while state and local governments increasingly regulated or prohibited different forms of gambling.
By the early 20th century, many of the games once openly played in saloons had been restricted or driven underground in parts of the country.
Faro gradually faded from popular culture.
Poker survived.
It would eventually become one of the world's most recognisable card games.
Hollywood and the Saloon Poker Game
The Western film turned the gambling table into one of the defining settings of the Wild West.
A stranger enters the saloon.
Cards are dealt.
Someone cheats.
Someone notices.
The room goes quiet.
Hands move slowly towards revolvers.
It is great cinema.
It isn't necessarily great history.
Real Western gambling was usually more ordinary and, in some ways, more interesting.
People gambled because they wanted entertainment, because they believed they could make money or simply because there wasn't much else to do after the working day ended.
Professional gamblers tried to make a living from it.
Saloons profited from it.
And countless workers discovered that luck could disappear considerably faster than their wages had arrived.
High Stakes in the American West
Gambling became part of the culture of the Wild West because it suited the world developing around it.
Frontier towns were filled with risk.
Miners gambled on finding gold.
Ranchers gambled on cattle and weather.
Entrepreneurs gambled on new towns and businesses.
Thousands of people had travelled west because they believed taking a chance might lead to a better life.
Perhaps it isn't surprising that many of them were willing to take another chance when the cards were dealt.
Today, the smoky saloon poker game remains one of the great images of the Western.
The reality involved more games, more people and considerably fewer dramatic shootouts.
But the essential attraction was much the same.
Put your money down, play your hand and see what happens next.
At BRAG, The Western Life explores the people, clothing, culture and stories behind the American West — from ranch hands and rodeos to saloons, gamblers and the legends that continue to shape Western culture.
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