A lot has changed since since the event of Sept 11, and then again when you look at it from another perspective, what has really changed??? There are still troups in Afghanistan and Iraq..

Ahh lets just get back to the life of gambling and escape from these things that we can’t change anyway.

… just how much some of the big hotel and casino groups must have spent on The Strip in Vegas.  There must be some seriously big budgets that have been spent on projects.  I am sure they have seen some return on investment on some of them, but you have to wonder if it is the right decision to spend billions in the current environment.  I bet the big casino companies, that have big debts, are struggling.

I know it is one thing that I look at straight away, if I want to invest in a company, is how much debt are they carrying?  Because they have to pay for that debt no matter who they are and it can become a burden.

It sure was an interesting read, that got me thinking about my own life and how I have lived it… often beyond my means, if I am truely honest with myself…

Online casinos have, since their inception, gone to great lengths to assure players that their game outcomes are totally random and dictated by random number generators (RNG’s).  Microgaming started the third party audit trend when they engaged PriceWaterhouseCoopers to audit the historical return outcomes produced across their licensee casinos.  They now enlist the services of eCOGRA.  Other large casino software developers have found it necessary to do the same to instill a degree of player comfort in their fair gaming chops.

But a new online casino is seeking to address any concerns over RNG game fairness, by simply eliminating all need for the random number generators.  Live baccarat, as the name suggests, allows you to play baccarat on your PC but with a real live dealer dealing actual playing cards over a live video feed.  It’s a format that should be well received by all those who baulked at the thought of a computer determining whether or not they win the next hand.

But before you get too excited, just bear in mind that live baccarat is not quite like being in a bricks and mortal casino.  You are viewing a webcast of the deal, and despite all the improvements employed in casting technology any webcast will only ever be as good as the connection speed underlying it.  If you’re on a slow connection, forget about live baccarat.  If your connection is reasonably fast, you will still get the odd ‘freeze frame’ in your cast.  But there can be no doubt that this is yet another move in the direction towards online baccarat replicating a real casino experience, from the comfort of your own home.

… and waisted a lot of my time, to be honest, but heh its been fun!

I found a cool site that got me lost down an alley for hours, it explains everything!  But what everything said is that the name Chemin de Fer may have come from the fact that the shoe of cards, or the “sabot” moves around the baccarat table in a loop… hence the name steel road or railroad.

I’m not that convinced though, sounds like a tall story.  Others say it is because the banker changes hands and moves position around the table.  So who knows?

Anyway I had a lot of fun searching for this, learnt more about European history and am more confused than ever…

The game was developed in France and Chemin de Fer means the railroad or steel road to be more specific.  But why railroad I dont know.  Wikipedia has a good explanantion of the history of baccarat. But it doesn’t say why it is called railroad.

Its a good question, I’ll try and find out.

But what I wanted to mention, is that there is baccarat scene in the movie, for those of you that haven’t seen it.  Its not a big scene, baccarat is hardly going to play a central part in a corporate espionage movie.  Without giving away too much, this young guy gets a big payout and then starts to blow it away in a casino playing baccarat…

The image of baccarat being for rich people with loads of money continues…

When times are tough people have less money for travel, leisure and entertainment.  The sin trade always prospers in a recession – cigarettes, alcohol and gambling do well.  People will still gamble, they may just change their habits and instead of flying to Vegas, they may use online gambling more.

Las Vegas casino groups have released some of their financial results and it seems that profits are down.  As they try to reduce prices to attract customers, then their margins be squeezed.  So I suppose they are walking a tight rope between dropping prices and getting more gamblers through the door against keeping their pricing higher and getting better margin.  Tricky one!

I suppose it depends on how long the recession goes on for, because if it starts to turn quickly then those with higher pricing will prosper more as the number of gamblers increase.  However, if you drop prices one of the toughest things to do is raise them again, so when the economy turns you will struggle to raise prices.  Then again if you keep prices high, no-one may come through your door.

Looks like we’re in for a long tough ride before we get out of these stormy waters!

Another famous baccarat player is Tommy Renzoni, known as the “Father of American Baccarat”.  He was a hotel or casino executive in Havana, Cuba, although some sources may give him a different job title… I’m not saying anything… you do your homework and find out for yourself.

Renzoni brought the game of baccarat to Las Vegas, when the Castro government started interfering with gambling and casinos.  He has also written some baccarat books which should be read if you want to win at baccarat – who better to teach you than the “Father of American Baccarat”.

Then there are people who have won and lost huge amounts playing baccarat like Akio Kashiwagi.  Baccarat is after all seen as a game for the rich and famous!  Perhaps the availability of online baccarat is changing that exclusive image.

… a smoke filled saloon, tough looking, unshaven… hard drinking, ruthless heros that were always fighting, and would not think twice about killing… but was it really like this???  or did Hollywood create the image???

Lets talk about some of the famous characters of the ‘Wild West’.  There was ‘Doc’ Holliday at the O.K. Corral.  ‘Wild Bill’ Hickock… never far from the barrel of a smoking gun… he certainly created a name for himself.. a legend really! But when you are that notorious you have to watch your back, not everyone is going to like you!!

“Wild Bill” died playing poker, he was shot in the back of the head… with a pair of aces and a pair of eights… which is still known as “Dead Man’s” hand.

When I was at school history was boring, now I find it quite interesting… just think how common the word ‘sandwich’ is now all over the world!!!

Its incredible… when you think about it.  And, who said gambling is boring, not full of historical moments and interesting characters?