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Twenty-one year old Joe Cada won the World Series of Poker and $8.5 million last week in Las Vegas. A heck of a pot for the youngest winner ever.

But fully of a piece, says my guest today, with poker’s fabled place in American history. And in American culture.

Presidents, generals, gangsters, cowboys — and now millions of Americans online — have embraced the part-Puritan, part go-for-it gambler ethos of poker. A new history tells the story.

This hour, On Point: The tangled American roots of poker. And we’ll hear from the 21-year-old who won it all.

You can join the conversation. Tell us what you think — here on this page, on Twitter, and on Facebook.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

James McManus, bestselling journalist and author who writes about poker for the New York Times and other publications. His new book is “Cowboys Full: The Story of Poker,” came out last month. He came in fifth in the World Series of Poker in 2000 and wrote a memoir about that experience, “Positively 5th Street.”

Read the first chapter of “Cowboys Full” (pdf).

Joseph Cada, winner of the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event. He was 21 when he won on November 10, the youngest champion ever. His winnings totaled $8.5 million.

Laura Lane, co-host of ESPN.com’s Inside Deal, a weekly show about online poker.

When it comes to gambling, Americans are on a roll. In 1960, there was not a single state lottery in the country. Now there are 43.

And casinos? Once they were the exclusive marks of sin cities like Las Vegas and Atlantic City. Now they’re all over, and promoted like motherhood and apple pie. Have a casino! It’s good for you!

From Massachusetts to Kansas to California, more states are looking to expand or dive in. Bottom line: Americans would rather roll the dice and grab those revenues than pay more taxes.

But what does it mean for the country?

This hour, On Point: America — Casino Nation.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Alan Wolfe, professor of political science, director of the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life at Boston College and host of an upcoming conference on gambling in American culture.

Michael Nelson, professor of political science at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee, and author of “How the South Joined the Gambling Nation” and “Governing Gambling: Politics and Policy in State, Tribe, and Nation.”

Richard Coe, a member of Stand Up for Kansas, an anti-gambling group, and president of Coe Financial Services.