Ironically, Barb was born just one hundred years behind Poker Alice. Like Alice, she quickly became famous among fellow pioneers. Where Alice gained a reputation for drawing crowds that brought more business to the saloons and poker parlors of the West, Barb's reputation grew for drawing members to what became the largest online small business community on one of the world's largest interactive proprietary networks.  

Poker Alice lived a life full of excitement and danger in the Wild West territories of Wyoming, South Dakota, New Mexico and Colorado. At one time she worked in a Creede, Colorado tent saloon owned by Bob Ford, the man who shot Jesse James. Almost a hundred years later while on her summer break from college Barb worked at one of the turn of the century saloons in that same town.

Alice was an accomplished marksman but her aim often got her in trouble. She was once tried for shooting a rowdy gambler for breaking up her saloon in Sturgis but was later acquitted. Barb won a few sharpshooter awards with her 22 as a kid but fortunately, put her gun away when she discovered boys were good for something more than packin' extra ammunition.  

The legend of Poker Alice grew as fast as she smoked her cigars. Just as rare as it was for her to show her hand in poker, she managed to kept much of her life private. To this day, much of the real story behind the legend of Poker Alice remains a mystery. Born Alice Ivers on February 17, 1851 in Sudbury, Devonshire county, England, she left for America in her teens. Settling with her parents in Colorado, she met her first love and future husband and poker teacher, Frank Duffield. Alice turned to playing poker for a living when Frank, an engineer, was killed in a mining accident in Leadville. She was lucky at the card tables but was married at least three times, outliving all her husbands. Barb, on the other hand, has enjoyed over 30 years of marriage to her first husband and remains with him to this day.

Before her career was over at the age of 75, Alice had earned a legendary reputation as a gambler, brothel operator, bootlegger, and gunslinger. At the age of 79, on February 27, 1930 Alice died in a Rapid City, South Dakota hospital due to gall bladder surgery complications. She is buried at St. Aloysius Cemetery in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

In 1987, Elizabeth Taylor starred in the TV saga of Poker Alice; however, the namesake behind her character was Alice Moffit, a name not accounted for in the legendary Poker Alice's marital history. Hooray for Hollywood!