: Set in the fictional German spa town of "Roulettenburg," it follows Alexei Ivanovich, a young tutor who becomes obsessed with gambling to win the favor of his employer’s stepdaughter, Polina.
: The chorus—"You've got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em"—suggests that survival depends on knowing what to keep and what to walk away from. The Gambler
Fyodor Dostoevsky's short novel, The Gambler , was written under a desperate, real-life deadline to pay off his own roulette debts. : Set in the fictional German spa town
: On a train "bound for nowhere," a seasoned gambler offers life lessons to the narrator in exchange for a drink and a cigarette. : On a train "bound for nowhere," a
Written by Don Schlitz and popularized by Kenny Rogers , this country classic uses poker as a universal metaphor for life.