Since its invention in the Middle Ages, a period of history not well-known for much sophistication, Baccarat has gone on to become almost synonymous with style and refinement. It’s a much-loved card game that has traditionally drawn high rollers thanks to its great limits and favourable odds.
Online Baccarat has evened the score somewhat, allowing for even conservative bettors, let alone those who like to bet medium-sized amounts of money, to have a little fun with it, and it’s become a top choice at most internet-based casinos.
As complicated as it may look, Baccarat’s a pretty simple game to learn and if you’ve not enjoyed it yet, perhaps these titbits of information will inspire you to finally learn how to play!
It’s Italian, Not French
France is widely credited with being the birthplace of the game, but it actually originated in Italy. A Mr Felix Falquiere devised the game there in the Middle Ages, albeit in a totally different format to the one we enjoy today. The first version was played with tarot cards.
It headed over to France during the 1400s, while King Charles VII was in power, and while tarot cards fell out of favour, variations of the original game began to appear. It’s France we have to thank for Baccarat’s incredible popularity and where Chemin de Fer and Punto Banco were born.
A Late Debut in the USA
While today its popularity in the United States of America could be compared to that of the real money slots Australia has to offer to its citizens, this was not always the case.
As long as its history in the rest of the world may be, Baccarat only debuted in Las Vegas in 1959. It made its entrance onto the American scene at the notorious Sands Casino and apparently lost the house US$250 000 on its opening night.
007 Loves to Bet on the Player, Banker, and Tie
While 2006’s Casino Royale, Daniel Craig’s debut as James Bond, was the last of these films to revolve around a gambling game, the Ian Fleming hero has traditionally nursed a passion for Chemin de Fer.
The list of films which show Bond enjoying a game includes the 1953 novel Casino Royale, where 007 has to beat Le Chiffre in a Baccarat game. The 1954 television adaption, called Climax!, also features the spy bankrupting the villain so that his Soviet bosses will remove him from the picture, literally.
The first time we see Bond playing Baccarat in a film is in the 1967 Dr No. Here you see Sean Connery as the titular character enjoying a round of Chemin de Fer with Sylvia Trench, played by Eunice Grayson. After losing a hand to our hero, Trench suggests that they raise the stakes and Bond agrees. She draws an 8 but of course, the spy beats her once more by drawing a 9! Look out for the game in other films in the series too, including Thunderball, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, For Your Eyes Only, and GoldenEye.
