Thursday

What an amazing experience that was! Tonight I went to the Casino with M to sit in for An who is currently off caravaning with Syl and their fur babies. For the last few weeks, An and M have been part of the Casino's VIP Tag Teams Baccarat tournament. Each team is issued with $100,000 in chips and at the end of 12 hands, the team with the most chips wins.  It's a tag team event so each of the two players in a team sits in for three hands before tagging the other one in.  There are 18 teams in each of three heats and the team with the most chips at the end of the night wins, and they and the next four highest scoring teams receive a prize.  The total prize pool is $11,000.  Alas, we were nowhere near the money - except our chips:  the winners had managed to turn their $100,000 in chips into $585,000.  We didn't see them play - they were on another table in the 6 o'clock heats - but we did watch others.  

They say that Baccarat gives the player a better chance of winning than any of the other table games.  At its simplest, you can bet on either the Player or the Banker to win.  There are other bets you can have ... whether it's going to be a tie, or pairs to the Player and/or Banker - which happens probably more than you'd think given each hand - which begins with two cards to each the Player and Dealer - dealt alternately - comes from a shoe which holds five thoroughly shuffled decks of cards.  The highest score you can have in Baccarat is 9.  Picture cards count as 10, Ace is 1, and the face value cards have that value.  Who has the highest tally at the end of the hand wins - and that's where it gets interesting and confusing, and requiring of some rudimentary mathemathical skills.  Primarily though it's a bit like betting on red or black on the roulette wheel - and the green is there - in the form of a tie, but in that instance, you get your bet back.  

So that's what I went into my very first game of Baccarat with ... and now that I have played, and watched others played, M and I are going to think some about strategy.  If at best you can double your money (because the higher odd options - tie or pairs - do not come up all that frequently) - how do you get the best return over 12 hands?

They say it's important to have a hobby.  

But the most amazing thing about Baccarat for me was the actual game play and the players.  The person with the highest bet at the table gets offered the player cards, face down, to look at before they are revealed to all. There is then a "show" where they look at the cards - peeking underneath,  holding the cards up a smidge, bending the cards up, and mostly leaving them less than pristine when they give then back to the dealer ... so the hand can continue.