Poker Dogs

in the early 1950's my Uncle Doyle became a " poker dog" (According to my Aunt Shirley- his ex-wife.) He began hanging around the Mint Bar in downtown Great Falls, Montana, drinking, gambling and staying out half the night. About this time the song "Irene Goodnight Irene" was popular, so the theme fit right in with Doyle's life style ("Sir Bremlin stop your gambling. Quit staying out late at night. Go home to your wife and family and stay there by your fireside bright."). The Mint Bar was part of my paper route, so I usually saw my uncle, half-drunk playing five card draw every afternoon around 3 p.m. He'd always buy a nickle paper from me and tip me ten cents, and tell me a stupid joke and then laugh at the top of his voice. All of his construction-worker "Poker Dogs" would join in and I'd end up with about fifty cents worth of tips- a fortune in those days. This poker pack was a jovial fun-loving bunch of rowdys who seemed to lack a care in the world. The Mint- their poker room, was a smoke filled saloon, with brass spitoons on the floors, and walls covered with original Charles Russell paintings, and a seated mixture of drunken construction workers, un-employed native americans, downtown office workers, cowboys, and a plethora of other drinkers participating in this bonding ritual. Many of the patrons smoked nickel Roi-tan cigars while gambling on punch-boards, while other were semi-concious or passed out at the long bar from drinking whiskey. The bar population was almost all male.

I often saw fights or the aftermath of a brawl, as I wended my way through the bars of downtown Great Falls, selling The Great Falls Leader ( the local newspaper). One day, as I exited the alleyway door of the Mint Bar, I came upon my
Uncle Doyle laying in a drunken heap, covered with blood, groaning, in the alley. Apparently, a drunken poker dispute, resulted in Doyle recieving a bad beat and getting the stuffing knocked out of him. After that day, I didn't see my uncle again for about four months. My aunt divorced him, and once again he joined his fellow "poker dogs" and lived his life as a rounder. In today's world of poker respectability, Doyle's world is a thing of the past. Gone are the colorful "poker dogs" of yesteryear!

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