Tradeoff: Baccarat and Mini-Baccarat

CINDY: Oh, I remember when we played the real baccarat game in a high roller room some twenty-five years ago when most top casinos had the game. We each put in $50 and we could meet the minimum bet of $100. I think it was a Wynn casino, and we won! Anyway, I think it was a Wynn casino. Maybe not.

ABBY: We won about $190! That’s the important thing. We won the first two bets and we stayed with that win for almost a half an hour.

CINDY: The dealers were dressed perfectly. The females wore beautiful dresses and the males wore tuxedos. The game was elegant. We even got to deal the cards. That was something special.

ABBY: Unfortunately, the casinos have more or less gotten rid of the big baccarat game where the players deal and the crew is fabulously dressed. It was too slow and many of today’s players are enjoy a faster game. I don't.

CINDY: Which brings us to mini-baccarat.

ABBY: A poor substitute for the real game, wouldn’t you say?

CINDY: Definitely.

ABBY: While the rules for hitting and standing are the same for this game as for the real game – and I prefer to use the “real game” as baccarat and not as mini-baccarat so bear with me.

CINDY: First of all, the players don’t deal the cards and the dealer does all the hitting and standing in mini-baccarat. The players just watch. Yes, the game is the same and the hitting and standing decisions are automatic but in the real game everything seemed to center on the players. It just felt that way.

ABBY: The speed of mini baccarat is ridiculous too. In the real game you might play forty or fifty hands per hour. At mini-baccarat you can play well over a hundred hands per hour. Maybe as much as a hundred and fifty hands with a really fast dealer.

CINDY: Even with small house edges, the speed of the game means many decisions. That’s a major tradeoff for the game. Fast speed but low house edges. That’s not a good thing because speed makes the game favor the casino more than you realize based on the house edges. That’s a problem.

ABBY: What about tremendously superstitious players? That can be a problem. The game seems to attract these people. Big time. And they are sometimes loud in their belief systems.

CINDY: You will note that some numbers are eliminated in the seating arrangements because superstitious players, for example, thought that the four-seat meant death in their culture. And they didn’t want to court death. They really believe this nonsense.

ABBY: I just don’t think of this as a primary game for me.

CINDY: For us.

ABBY: I’d pool money again to play the real game but mini-baccarat has mini the thrills. That’s how I feel.

CINDY: But the game is quite popular and has a strong group of players throughout the nation. It has its audience, that’s for sure. And I don’t enjoy the games where there are side bets. Those bets are not good bets.

ABBY: Agreed.

CINDY: Next issue, how about slot machines?

ABBY: Fine with me.

This article is provided by the Frank Scoblete Network. Melissa A. Kaplan is the network's managing editor. If you would like to use this article on your website, please contact Casino City Press, the exclusive web syndication outlet for the Frank Scoblete Network. To contact Frank, please e-mail him at fscobe@optonline.net.