Baccarat Casino
Game
by Adel Awwad
Baccarat
was introduced from Italy
to France during the reign of Charles VIII of France who ruled from
1483
to 1498. It became a very popular game amongst French nobility.
Although
baccarat has always been extremely popular in European and Latin
American
casinos, baccarat never really caught on as strongly as black jack in
casinos
in the United States.
In the
1950s, baccarat became more
popularized in Vegas largely because of the efforts of Frank Sinatra
who
was a co-owner of The Sands at that time. The game of Baccarat was
targeted
to high rollers-the tables for baccarat were exclusive territories that
were roped off and had dealers dressed in tuxedos.
In more
recent years, many US casinos
are offering 'mini baccarat' with lower stakes and played on a standard
blackjack shaped table. Baccarat is really a simple game with only
three
possible outcomes-player, banker and tie. The term player does not
refer
to the gambling customer, banker does not refer to the house, and it is
simply an option on which gamblers can bet.
It is
an unusual game in that any
score of 10 is worth zero, or baccarat. Nine is the highest score that
can be achieved. Two face cards would have a score of zero, a nine and
six would not equal 15, but rather equal five (minus the first digit).
Aces count as one and the rest of the cards retain their face value.
There
are 3 accepted variants of
baccarat: Baccarat Chemin de Fer (railway), Baccarat Banque (or a deux
tableau) and Punto Banco (North American baccarat). Punto Banco is
played
in the United States, Canada and Australia-a variation of baccarat in
which
the casino banks the game at all times. Gamblers may bet on either the
player or the banker, the designations for the two hands dealt in each
game. The object of Punto Banco is to bet on the hand with the highest
total, remembering that two face cards equal zero (10 plus 10 equals
20,
minus the first digit is zero or baccarat).
Mini
baccarat is a fairly popular
game because of the lower stakes. It is essentially the same game as
Punto
Banco, but played on a table similar to a black jack table. Baccarat
and
mini baccarat can be found at many casinos across the United States and
Canada, although it is not as popular as some of the other illustrious
gambling card games like Texas hold 'em poker and Blackjack.
 Ignition Casino
|
