The Queen of Spades Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin - Pushkin's story tells of the Russianized German card player, Hermann—an engineer in the army in Russia—who becomes obsessed with the secret of three consecutive winning cards after hearing a story about an old countess' winnings years prior. His obsession drives him to manipulate the countess' ward, Lizaveta Ivanovna, into letting him into their home.