Baccarat History
Baccarat - The Beginning
Baccarat history begins over 2600 years ago, with the ancient Roman Etruscans in the Italian peninsula. The Etruscans believed in nine gods, housed in their Temple of Golden Hair and were required to offer a blond virgin to them, to appease them. A nine sided die was cast by her to determine her fate. A five or less meant she had to walk into the sea and drown. A six or seven meant she got to live and was excused from ever having to roll the die again. On and eight or nine she was promoted to priestess.
Baccarat's history came closer to being fully realized when playing cards came back with the Crusaders in the 14th Century. The Church was of the opinion that cards were surely the work of the Devil, but Gutenberg, in the same year that he published the bible, printed playing cards, which became the first tarot deck, with each of the four suits representing a class of society.
Swords, which later became spades, represented nobility. King David was the first King of Spades.
Coins represented the merchant class, and later became diamonds. The first King of Diamonds was Julius Caesar.
Clubs, which later evolved into cloverleaves, but were still called clubs, represented the serfs. The first King of Clubs was Alexander the Great.
Finally, Cups (representing the Holy Grail, and by proxy, the Church) evolved into hearts. The first King of Hearts was Charlemagne.
In the 1600's, Felix Falguiere revived the Etruscan ritual to create a similar game for wagering using tarot cards. He named his game baccarat, from "baccara", a Venetian slang term for "zero" and hence the history of baccarat was born.
Alternative theories maintain that baccarat history is descended from Chinese Pai Gow, and came to Italy from Marco Polo's expeditions. Pai Gow literally means "to make nine" and also has the shifting banker rules.
Baccarat becomes the game of the French Nobility
Once spreading to France, during the reign of Charles VIII, baccarat history evolved as noblemen took up the game in wild enthusiasm, calling the game first baccarat en Banque and later Chemin De Fer, French for "railroad." Players took turns playing the role of banker and passed the role to each other. The game required four people to administer the game.
The game was at first, illegal. Nobles played the game in secret until legislation taxed the game to give proceeds to the poor. This made the game conscientious and caused it to become extremely popular. Gambling was no longer a decadent exercise, it was philanthropy.
Things began to change under Napoleon. While Napoleon did not make the game illegal, he frowned upon it and the game lost its popularity. By the time Louis-Phillipe came to power, it was banned, and it remained banned until 1907. During these dark days, the game returned to the underground, and in the absence of nobles to play it (the French Revolution did away with nobles) players were often at the mercy of unscrupulous gangsters that often ran crooked games.
When it became legal again in France, it quickly rebounded. Casinos were built all over the country in Biarritz, Deauville, Nice, Cannes, and Monaco.
Baccarat in the UK
Meanwhile, the game was spreading. Baccarat history runs deep in Victorian England during the time that it was illegal in France. British aristocracy took to it like moths to fire. Crockford's club in London and the games hosted by John Aspinall were high intrigue for Queen Victoria's court.
Of course, scandal rocked the court in 1890, when the playing partner of the Queen's very own son, the Prince of Wales was caught in baccarat troubles. Sir William Gordon-Cumming, whilst playing at the home of a respected millionaire was accused of manipulating a game in the favor of his playing syndicate, which included the Prince of Wales. Sir Gordon-Cumming was asked to sign an agreement to never play again and did so, without the Prince speaking on his behalf. This caused Sir Gordon-Cumming to be ejected from the royal circle, and prompted him to sue for defamation. Eventually he lost, but the entire affair greatly upset Queen Victoria and made the entire baccarat community in England awfully nervous.
The Greek Syndicate
Back in France, people were hard at work trying to master the game since it had been legalized. In the twenties, a team calling itself the Greek Syndicate, began to make baccarat history as one of the greatest gambling teams of all time. The syndicate was led by Nico Zographos, an engineer who had done a mathematical study of the game. He had two Greeks, and Armenian and a Frenchman under him and began to break casino banks all over France. They counted cards, read body language, and made over $5 million dollars.
Baccarat in the Americas
As baccarat history crept into the 20th century, several regional rules variations appeared: Chemin de Fer, Punto Banco and Banque were the most popular.
In Argentina, a variation called Punto y Banca evolved, which eventually migrated to Cuba. It was only after the Cuban Revolution, that Baccarat made its way to the Las Vegas Strip. Tommy Renzoni brought it to the Sands Casino and it began to rake in serious money. Renzoni was a modest casino employee and benefited in no way from the huge profits his ingenuity brought the Sands, and after the death of his beloved wife, he walked in to the middle of the street and killed himself.
Every effort was made to attract American players, by making it an exclusive setting, with roped off areas and requiring a dress code. But the 1950's and 1960's American gambling culture was far too casual, and preferred games like craps. Eventually, rules changes were made, and baccarat began to attract bigger crowds.
Baccarat for the masses
Eventually casinos invented mini-baccarat, so that people could play in the main casino area on a table that was the same size as a blackjack one. This was less intimidating to the casual player, and only required one dealer that took the place of the four traditionally in baccarat.
Edward O'Connor - News Reporter