JackpotCity Online Casino Blog

Throughout time, the game of baccarat has been seen to be a card game reserved for very exclusive and wealthy gamblers. The more well known players tend to be players in land-based casinos rather than online baccarat players.

In terms of land-based baccarat as opposed to online baccarat, one mentionable name would be Akio Kashiwagi. He first rose to fame through a record breaking win in Atlantic City, USA. This win in Atlantic City was of $6 million which he achieved through betting up to an astonishing $200,000 per hand. His luck turned a few weeks later when he reportedly lost a record $10 million.

Before online baccarat came about, Tommy Renzoni was a casino executive in Havana, Cuba in the 1950s. Renzoni is the man that took baccarat to Las Vegas.  The game quickly became a huge success and he is widely regarded as the father of baccarat in the United States.

And last but not least, there is one man who’s name has been synonymous with the game of baccarat for some time. That is of course James Bond. Baccarat is the secret agent’s favourite casino card game although the novels were written before the introduction of online baccarat.

These, of course, are famous people that play baccarat at land-based casinos. There are not as many well known online baccarat players. This could be due to the fact that any large wins in terms of online baccarat can  of course be kept relatively confidential. The introduction of online baccarat to casino sites means that you no longer need to be a member of the gambling elite to play. Online baccarat has succeeded in increasing the variety of different people playing the game of baccarat. Online baccarat has also become very popular as a standard game offered by online casinos.

I had the misfortune of watching Rush Hour 3 on Sunday night.  It was offensive on so many levels and Chris Tucker’s voice makes Fran Drescher sound sultry and seductive.  But what did get my attention was the scene in the Parisian casino.  Tucker’s character tries to get the attention of a beautiful woman with all the subtlety of a rhinoceros on viagra, at one of the casino tables where she is playing a card game.  Tucker gets 3 Kings in his first hand and thinks he has won.  The ever so snooty croupier says to him ” Messeur, this is Baccarat, that is the worst possible hand”.  I realised I had no idea how Baccarat works and thought others like me may want to know a little bit about the history of the game and how it works.

The game arrived in France from Italy in the 15th century and is similar to Faro and Basset.  It was first played by Italian Felix Falguierein with a pack of Tarot cards in the middle ages before it moved across the Alps to France where it became the game of the French aristocracy.  There are 3 versions of the game.  Punto Banco or North American Baccarat, Baccarat Chemin de Fer, and Baccarat Banque.

The rules are basically this.

• Cards 2 to 9 are worth their face value.
• Aces are worth 1,
• 10 and the face cards are worth zero.
• Unlike in blackjack where you aim to total 21, in Baccarat the aim is to total 9.
• The name Baccarat, meaning zero, is the name for the worst possible hand which is zero.
• To make it slightly more conmplicated, if for example, you have a 6 and a 7, totalling 13, the 10 is dropped meaning the total of your hand is 3.
• There are only 3 possible results.  Player, Bank or Tie.  The idea is to bet on whether the Player or Banker will win or whether there will be a tie.
• Player and Banker dont represent the gambler or the casino, they are simply the names for each hand.

Each versions has different rules but I think you get the gist.  In the 2nd to last James Bond, the remake of Casino Royale, Bond plays Texas Holdem against Le Chiffre due to the popularity of that game at present.  However, in Fleming’s novel and the original version of the movie, the game was Baccarat.  This game is popular with high rollers with players winning and losing tens of thousands of dollars per hand.  Another reason the game is probably not as well known is that the tables are usually tucked away in the more exclusive parts of casinos.

However with the growing popularity of online casinos you and I are able to step into the shoes of the French nobility and give it a go.  Just remember what happened to them though and that your card playing experience from those all night poker sessions counts for nought…or baccarat.