GG Vassiliou

Eleni Vassiliou is the rare professional who refuses to choose: half the income comes from Athens card rooms and half from serious backgammon, and there are two ledgers, one for each, kept honestly since 1998 and never once combined. A bad year at cards is not allowed to be funded by a good year at boards. She grew up on the till of her father's Piraeus card club, watching tells before she could reach the felt, and she plays the backgammon side for real stakes against a small circle who settle quarterly. Unreadable at the table, she lets the cube speak and notes that most players misjudge it for the same reason they misjudge a bluff.