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The Mystique of Real Money Baccarat
There is a mystique to Baccarat. The word Baccarat itself conjures up pictures of elegantly dressed men in black tuxedos and beautiful women with stunning hair-do’s, dressed in clinging silk sheaths with long cigarette holders in their fingers. The players are speaking with pseudo-European accents while they stand around in red velvet decorated casino rooms waiting for the action to begin.
Baccarat is a very old casino game. It is the oldest game presently being played in casinos. It dates back to Italy in the Middle Ages, where it was first played with cards from a Tarot deck and deriving its name from the Italian word for ‘zero’. The game then drifted into France where it became popular among the noblemen and took two different directions, European Baccarat and the French game of ‘Chemin de Fer’.
The game played in casinos today is derived from Chemin de Fer with some minor changes that are insignificant.
Baccarat – The High Society Casino Game
Baccarat is a favorite casino game in ‘High Society’ and among heavy gamblers - the “high rollers”. In the casino, the baccarat table is usually surrounded by a large crowd and the table stands in an elegant setting, decorated with marble, cut-glass chandeliers, plush chairs and lots of gold ornaments. All this lends itself to the legends and stories about the millionaires who bet a million dollars in one sitting.
Gambling enthusiasts come to Las Vegas from all over the world just to experience the lavish atmosphere of this affluent game with all its trappings of big real money gambling. They say that visitors to casinos can tell how the casino is doing at any particular time just by the size of its take at the Baccarat tables.
Ian Fleming added to the Baccarat myths in his first James bond book, Casino Royale, where the villain, le Chiffre, loses a fortune to Bond.
The Truth about Baccarat
The truth is nothing like that. Anyone can play Baccarat and anyone can learn to play it. Moreover, it is easy to learn and people from all walks of life play the game.
Baccarat is available in many casinos in America and everywhere else in the world. It is extremely popular in the famous gambling centers of the world such as Monte Carlo and the Internet makes it available at a variety of online casinos.
Another factor that makes Baccarat so popular is that it is one of the easiest gambling games to play. There are only 3 bets that can be made:
o On the banker
o On the player
o On a tie between banker and player.
The only other decision facing the player is the size of the bet.
How to Play Baccarat
As far as playing on-line is concerned, all a player has to do is bet on one of two hands that are dealt to the player or the banker. The hand that totals closest to 9 is the winner.
A perfect hand is the one where the first two cards total 9. A total of 8 is the next best hand and these two hands are called ‘naturals’. A ‘natural’ 9 beats a ‘natural’ 8. If a player or the banker has a ‘natural’ 8 or 9, the other players may not draw another card. In the case of a tie, all bets are cancelled.
The gambling odds in Baccarat are good and the house edge is very low. When the bet is placed on the player, the odds are about 1.36% compared to the odds on the banker, which are about 1.17%. The difference between these is not great and is comparable to betting on the Red or Black in Roulette or on the Pass or Don’t Pass in craps.
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