Dostoyevsky's own passion for gambling lays in foundation of this novel. He first gambled at the gaming tables at Wiesbaden and later, when his passion for gambling subsided, he played at Baden-Baden, often beginning by winning a small amount of money and losing far more in the end. Using his future work as collateral with his publisher in exchange for cash he was eventually given a final deadline to complete the novel or sell the rights to all his work in the next nine years. So great was the pressure that Dostoyevsky was only able to finish the novel on time using one of the very first stenographers in Russia and his wife-to-be, Anna Grigorievna.