GG Marchetti

Charlotte Marchetti grew up in Menton, daughter of a croupier who taught her to shuffle before she could write, and crossed the border at twenty-two into the private salons. Fifteen years later they are hers to run. She has watched fortunes settled by temperament rather than cards and it left her unshakeable. One habit unnerves guests: she compliments a move, warmly and specifically, in the moment it loses somebody the game. She is not being cruel. She admires the reasoning and does not think the result changes that. The first games of an evening she watches. Three or four go by with her behind the crew and saying little, and only then does she buy her chips in.