Baccarat has overtaken poker in terms of the most well-loved slots across the world. Baccarat is a game involving cards. It is a game of both choice and luck where the cards are valued on a point system. It has only recently grown in popularity in America, causing casinos to love and hate it due to the fact that so many people are playing it. Make sure you know how to play online slots to avoid losing much!
History Of Baccarat
Felix Falguiere was the “inventor” of baccarat in the 1400s. The game was originally called “baccara”, as this is the Italian word for zero. This is because all of the tends and face cards were worth zero. Baccarat was the French spelling that was then adopted worldwide.
The original games of baccarat were different from the modern version in terms of the playing. In the original, there were four dealers and each player had an equal opportunity to be the banker. In this game, the players could bet against other players as well as against the house. Nowadays, there is one dealer and bets are generally placed against the house, who also serves as the banker.
The game then moved over to Italy’s neighbour France, where it became popular amongst the aristocracy, especially the monarchy. It was King Charles VIII’s favourite game. It even reached further North at this time, becoming popular in England. Later, Ian Fleming would become a fan of the game and thus create the most famous baccarat player across the world, James Bond. Nowadays, baccarat is extremely popular online and globally and is now one of the most widely played games in casino history.
How To Play Baccarat
Baccarat is a simple game to wrap your head around. It’s a high-limit game where players choose to bet on the “Player” or the “Banker” hand, whilst the dealer does the rest. The objective is to get closer to nine that the opposing hand. However, if your total is higher than nine, the first digit is dropped.
There are set rules in baccarat that determine whether a third card is then drawn, but the only decision that the player has to make is whether to bet on the dealer or player hand, as well as how much to wager.
Why Casinos Love Baccarat
The game of baccarat is profitable. In Macau, where it is most popular, upwards of 75 per cent of the casinos’ profits come from baccarat. This is similar in Las Vegas, but slot games are still the most popular due to the sheer amount of slot machines. However, in Vegas, only 20 per cent of the wins are on the baccarat tables.
The game itself, over time, has become associated with luxury and status because of its image. Automatically, people begin to think of extremely rich people in tuxedos and expensive gowns staking enormous amounts of money. This image has also been fuelled by the James Bond series, a 007 spy famous for his skill at baccarat wrote by Ian Fleming. Therefore, people tend to flock to the baccarat tables in the hopes of fulfilling their super spy dreams where they live a life of luxury. This is an advantage for the house since the profitability of the game will increase. It is also extremely popular in Asian countries where, culturally, they have strong ideas about luck and enjoy the set rules in the game.
Why Casinos Fear Baccarat
Baccarat is slightly dangerous for casinos, however, due to the fact that such large amounts of money are bet on the small house edge. This means that players are more likely to win at this game. Therefore, the players have a serious chance of winning big and this puts the casinos in a precarious situation. Some may say that it is similar to the players wherein the casino can make millions in a short amount of time or completely break the bank in that same time.
Advice to casino managers tells them to prepare for the high rollers that could leave them in hot water. The general idea is that if someone is betting $10,000 a hand, then he could conceivably win $1 million from the casino. This is because the risk for the casino comes out at about 100 times the average bet of the player. Therefore, only the most established casinos can really offer baccarat, at the risk of facing the price of the house losses. For better gaming experience, we recommend checking our guide for UKs best slot games to play.
Our Verdict
So, why are high rollers so attracted to baccarat? And how has it overtaken the likes of blackjack and poker? Apart from the fact that it has one of the lowest percentages of house advantage over the player at about 1.2 per cent. Therefore, it may be one to try your hand at in the future. You may find that you love it. However, why not also try our online slots, which we guarantee that you’ll love.
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