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Shortened and Condensed History of Baccarat for Those Interested

Facts of Baccarat History

Baccarat shares a similar history with bingo. That game, too, originated from Europe and came a long way: today, you can play bingo on mobile devices, and there are casinos that offer mobile bacarat games as well. The history of baccarat casino game is quite controversial because two European countries want to be called its motherland - Italy and France. Anyway, bacarrat game has become world-famous only after its coming to America in the second part of the 20th century.

Italy

The name of baccarat game comes from the Italian word 'baccara' which means 'a zero'. Researches believe that this game has appeared in Italy thanks to one gambler - Felix Falguerein, and it was played with Tarot cards then; Felix was the one who developed the rules of the game, and it was played only by monks first. It was the 14th century.

Some people believe that Mr. Falguerein's baccarat rules were based on one Etrustan ritual concerning a priestess's choosing: a lady had to throw a dice and if the number of points was 8 or 9 she was chosen to become the next priestess; 6 or 7 points gave her a right to come into the temple; less than 5 points forced her to jump from a mountain and end the life in such a way.

France

In the 15th century the King of France Charles VIII brought baccarat to his country: it happened during the Franco-Italian War, and baccarat became popular at once. Anyway, only rich and noble people had a right to play this game then, though the middle-class people also found a method to play baccarat illegally. That is why baccarat is considered to be the game of aristocracy even today and such an image of the game is supported by all casinos by no means.

Two popular baccarat variations have appeared in Europe then: Chemin de Fer and Baccarat Banque; the last one is believed to be developed in England where the game had become famous thanks to Queen Victoria's son who had problems with gambling. Today both these baccarat games are played online and in land-based casinos.

The USA

French colonists have brought baccarat to America in the end of the 19th century. Americans were interested in this new game but were not very excited of it because blackjack casino game was very popular there during that period. Baccarat had moved to Cuba and received the name of Punto Banco there; only in 1950s Tommy Renzoni, a well-known gambler and casino owner brought baccarat back and showed it to America in one of New York casinos.

So, Americans have changed the rules of the game a little bit and accepted baccarat with open arms: it became more and more popular, new variants of the game appeared (Mini-Baccarat, Super Pan Nine, EZ Bacarrat and others) but three traditional baccarat games continued their living and were not going to give up. Today all of them welcome gamblers from all over the world and, thanks to the Internet, baccarat continues its development by giving a chance to one more variation - online baccarat.

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History of Baccarat

The story of the game of Baccarat stretches back to the dawn of time, and like most good stories, the origin of the game is shrouded in mystery.

There are a number of versions of the story floating around the internet.

Having read quite a few of these 'histories' however, I suspect that they are all rewritten versions of this history. All those stories talk about an Italian gambler (or maybe a French croupier) called Felix Falguerein as being the inventor of the game, and then they ramble on about Etruscan rituals and other rubbish. I imagine most people couldn't find Etruscia on a map.

That last bit was a joke, by the way – the Etruscan culture died away a long time ago. Moving on.

One thing that we do know about the name of the game is that aside from the game itself being called Baccarat, that term is also used for a hand that totals zero.

Supposedly this term means zero in some European language, but I couldn't find any evidence to support that claim. It's not important. Nowadays, the term also means a hand that has a value of zero, and possibly also refers to any card, such as tens or face cards, that also have a value of zero.

Before the game as we know it now became predominant, the version played was called 'Chemin de Fer' – which means railroad – and was slightly different to the modern game, being more complicated in the rules.

Since the growth of gambling in the United States and the advent of internet gambling, the game has evolved yet again, and the version that you see in most land based and online casinos is now more properly called mini baccarat.

In the original version, you were required to actually know how to play the game, and you could also refuse to take a card, which, under the rules of the modern game, you cannot do. In the Chemin de Fer version, the 'bank' passed back and forth between two players, so you actually played the hand that had the appropriate name; if you were 'dealing' then you won or lost on the outcome of the bankers hand.

As you might know by now, in the modern game, you can bet on either hand, or the tie, and the house is always the banker, except at some non-Indian card rooms in the state of California where the public off the street player can be the Banker or in the absence of such—then the casino deals with the banker being a licensed California Banker Corporation.

The built in mathematical edge that the house enjoys – the slight difference between the real odds of a hand winning, and the odds that the casino pays out – ensures that they make a profit over the long run. It doesn't really matter to them then which hand wins.

Because of the transition from a game where you could be either the banker or the player to a game where it didn't matter, there is an over usage of the term 'player'. Player hand you may think refers to your hand, when in fact it doesn't really.

When I first started playing Baccarat I found the terminology somewhat confusing along with slang and numerous innuendoes spoken by the players at the table gambling.

Popularity of modern Baccarat

Once the complicated rules were removed it was relatively easy to introduce the game to land based casinos. That seems to have happened in the U.S. in Nevada during the 1950's. The game of baccarat was imported to Las Vegas from Cuba.  A gambling game being introduced into a town full of gamblers could have been expected to be a hit, and it was. Now it is a standard table game in most, if not all, land based casinos worldwide.

A certain air of exclusivity has remained associated with it though, and many high rollers (gamblers that like to bet big) like to play it. That is possibly because of the high table limits that can still be found in major casinos around the world. Although the high limits could in fact derive from the fact that these players like to play at those high stakes.

Of course, one of the most iconic images related to Baccarat is of the various James Bond characters facing down a villain over the cards, usually for very high stakes.

The scenes of James Bond playing Baccarat in many movies may have helped to make the game more popular.
The use of the game in the various Bond films may have made it more interesting for gamblers in real life, and encouraged them to find out more about it.

Modern Baccarat

The most popular version of this in online casinos is a stripped down, roll-of-the-dice kind of game, where you place your bets and the cards are dealt according to a strict set of drawing rules. The player has no say in whether a card is drawn or not. The totals of the two hands determine what will happen next, and the dealer (software) will act accordingly.
You have to turn over the cards that you are dealt. You can also turn up a corner of the card to see what is under. All of that seems rather pointless though, as you will have to show the cards eventually. The dealer, or the software, already knows the value of your hand, so I fail to see the point of that on-line.

Because the action is determined based on the value of the hands and no decisions have to be made, I feel that it lends itself to the use of systems rather well. While it is similar to Blackjack, there are decisions that the player can make in that game that will have a bearing on the outcome of the hand. There are no decisions here, so all a system player has to do is work out how much to bet on the next hand once the current hand has played out, usually according to his bank roll or buy in capital sitting in front of the player.

I'm sorry if you came here looking for a detailed history of the early origins of the game, there really isn't any that are 100% factual, edge of the chair interesting and all that.  But if you would like some badly written, or re-written, version of a made up story, there are plenty to be had on the internet.