"The Gambler" is a short novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky about a young tutor who becomes addicted to gambling. Dostoevsky himself was familiar with gambling and completed the novel in 1866 to pay off his own gambling debts. The story follows Alexei Ivanovich, a tutor working for a Russian family, as he falls in love with Polina, the niece of the family's patriarch. Alexei gets caught up in a series of events involving gambling, love, and financial struggles. The novel explores the