History Baccarat
Baccarat is one of those rare casino games that have maintained their mystic into the 21st century. Indeed, at some casinos Baccarat remains an exclusive affair where one finds the Baccarat tables in private rooms or cordoned off with velvet ropes. Traditionally Baccarat has maintained this exclusivity because only the wealthy jet-setters could afford to try their hand. For the average casino player, it remained elusive and just out of their reach. To this day, Baccarat tables often require large minimum bets. Las Vegas’s MGM Grand, for example, has even required a minimum bet of $1000.
Despite its mystique as a sophisticated casino game exclusively for the well-to-do, Baccarat is ironically one of the easiest casino games to learn and, for those who are willing to invest a few minutes to learn its deceptively simple basic strategy, a strategy author Bill Haywood once described “as dumb as a stump,” Baccarat affords the best player odds among casino games, and has a lower variance than even that perennial favorite, blackjack. With mini-Baccarat (what most players like me know as Baccarat because of its accessibly low minimum bets) and the advent of online Baccarat, today everyone can get into the spirit of this simple, yet alluring casino game. With a good money management system and a cursory knowledge of the rules, Baccarat is an excellent choice for players interested in making money as well as having fun.
Baccarat can be traced back to the Middle Ages when, it has been suggested, it was originally played with Tarot cards. Despite its Italian origins, baccarat rapidly took hold among the French aristocracy where it gained it reputation as game of the elite. During this period distinct French and European variations appeared, but the game that today is known as Baccarat originated on the British Isles. Form its modern beginnings in England, Baccarat made its may to South America and finally to the United States and Las Vegas where it is today considered one of the most lucrative games for casino managers due to its magnetic appeal for high rollers and risk takers.
