Sean McElwee: Inside a political gambler's rise and fall in Washington - The Washington Post

Adapted from “The Big Break: The Gamblers, Party Animals, and True Believers Trying to Win in Washington While America Loses Its Mind.” ©2023 Ben Terris and reprinted by permission from Twelve Books/Hachette Book Group. It was poker night at Sean McElwee’s Logan Circle bachelor pad. In the living room, a big‐screen television played “Rounders,” the 1998 Matt Damon movie. Extra‐large pizzas and cheap beer cluttered the counter in the kitchen, and tubs of protein powder sat on the shelves. A bunch of guys sat around a table: a spokesman for Facebook, a head of an organization attempting to end the filibuster, a former top aide to former Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid, a senior reporter who covered the Senate for MSNBC, and Gabe Bankman‐Fried, the brother and political confidant of the crypto billionaire Sam Bankman‐Fried. They were Washington-insider types, people whose jobs brought them close to America’s political power centers. And Sean, their host? “I’m in the business of makin

Adapted from “The Big Break: The Gamblers, Party Animals, and True Believers Trying to Win in Washington While America Loses Its Mind.” ©2023 Ben Terris and reprinted by permission from Twelve Books/Hachette Book Group. It was poker night at Sean McElwee’s Logan Circle bachelor pad. In the living room, a big‐screen television played “Rounders,” the 1998 Matt Damon movie. Extra‐large pizzas and cheap beer cluttered the counter in the kitchen, and tubs of protein powder sat on the shelves. A bunch of guys sat around a table: a spokesman for Facebook, a head of an organization attempting to end t