When I first met Mr.TravelZork, he was known as Baccarat Guy online. His fascination for the game was and is unrelenting even though he no longer goes by the name.
I was known as East Coast Gambler at the time but ditched that shortly after moving to Las Vegas. People didn’t like that I was using the east coast moniker while living, working, and covering the west coast. Oh well, MeltzVegas it is! (I use this name on Instagram, BlueSky, Threads, and xTwitter if you care)
While I’ve been gambling since grade school, baccarat was never on the list of games I play. I tried it once at Bally’s in Atlantic City and it just wasn’t my thing despite the low house edge.
Baccarat seems to be growing in popularity among the TravelZork community and it recently re-entered my life listening to a podcast with Dana White a couple of months ago. The CEO of UFC recently moved some of his play from blackjack to more baccarat.
During the “2 Bears 1 Cave Podcast,” White dubbed himself as “Baccarat Guy.” Sorry Mr. TravelZork.
I’m not a fan of UFC, but I found White’s commentary on baccarat interesting enough to mentally tag this if the game comes into my life. Well, that has happened a couple of times since this podcast.
The game popped up on my radar for the past few months analyzing Nevada gaming revenue. Baccarat revenue in Las Vegas (and Nevada) has been down a lot lately.
According to the Nevada Gaming Control Board, casino revenue from baccarat is down 32.59% in the past three months (Aug., Sept., Oct.) of reporting compared to last year. Coincidentally or not, White appears to be on a hot streak playing baccarat on the Vegas Strip.
This post is from December 1, 2024. There are a few posts from different people sharing stories about White winning at baccarat. He hasn’t turned his back on his former favorite game and still plays blackjack but it looks like his big gambling money is spent on the Vegas Strip playing baccarat.
Why Play Baccarat?
The best part of baccarat is the low 1.06% house edge on Player or Banker bets. Ties and side bets have a higher house edge.
The house edge for a tie is more than 14%. The side bets have various larger house edges.
It seems like these high house edge bets are so baccarat players don’t fall asleep playing the game. Kidding, kinda.
For what it’s worth, this is similar to playing Pai Gow Poker side bets. PGP has become my favorite table game but I understand why people would be bored by the game. I play the side bets to make it interesting but not everyone does. To each their own!
Another benefit from playing baccarat is the pace of the game can be slow with a full table. This makes it a little easier to earn reward points.
Do you play baccarat? If so is it new to your life?
Drop a comment below or wherever you read this.
Marc grew up on the mean streets of the South Bronx. He's the rare combination of Yankees and Jets fan which explains his often contrarian point of view. He learned about gambling at a young age working down the street from a bookie who took action on anything from the mainstream sports to the last three digits of the purse for certain horse races. Yeah, that's a thing. Today Marc is a freelance writer and social media consultant which allows him to work anywhere there's a wifi signal. This allows him to work from the sportsbook at Red Rock Resort or the food court at The Venetian where you’ll find fast and free wifi. Writing about steak, booze, gambling and Las Vegas is a tough job but somebody has to do it.
