Baccarat and the James Bond Connection

Along with shaken martinis, pretty women and fancy cars, baccarat is another trait that James Bond is known for. In Ian Fleming's books or the films, baccarat may be known as Chemin de Fer.

Casino Royale is the first novel that was released out of the Bond series. The story follows a baccarat game that is played between James Bond and Le Chiffre, a SMERSH operative at an extravagant casino in France.
In the 1953 novel Casino Royale, Ian Fleming illustrates the feelings that James Bond feels towards gambling:
"Bond has always been a gambler. He loved the dry riffle of the cards and the constant unemphatic drama of the quiet figures round the green tables. He liked the solid, studied comfort of card rooms and casinos, the well padded arms of the chairs, the glass of champagne or whiskey at the elbow, the quiet unhurried attention of good servants. He was amused by the impartiality of the roulette ball and of the playing cards and their eternal bias. "

The above description describes Baccarat as a stylish game but really the description is a bit far from the truth. However, the sophisticated surrounding that is depicted is correct. The well padded arm chairs which are probably real leather of an exotic animal or the pure whiskey that is being poured is nothing near exaggeration. If you have ever seen a baccarat game, you will see that the players are all of high class.

Baccarat is a well known game that is usually only played by the upper-class. It appeared in the fifteenth century in Italy and then made its way to France. In Italy, it is pronounced the Italian word for zero. Six centuries later, baccarat has changed its rules and has even spawned different ways of playing the game depending on the country. In European casinos, baccarat is played differently then the American version of baccarat that is played in Las Vegas.

The way baccarat is played is pretty easy to follow. Two hands are dealt, one to the dealer and the other to the player. The player must bet on one of the hands. Who ever gets the highest hand wins. In America, the player plays against the house. In the French version, Chemin de Fer, players compete against each other.

The storyline takes place in a casino in France. Baccarat master James Bond is employed to beat Monsieur Le Chiffre, the SMERSH worker. Bond's mission is to make Le Chiffre gambling away his money until he has nothing left to live for and commits suicide. The game lasts for a few suspenseful hours and James Bond of course wins the game. Because of Le Chiffre shame, he is killed by SMERSH but all this does not happen before our special agent Bond is captured by SMERSH and his held captive and tormented by SMERSH and Bond's double agent Vesper Lynd who has deceived Bond.

Casino Royale has been adapted to the big screen twice. It's second time around is set to be released on November 17, 2006. It is going to be the twenty first James Bond film and Daniel Craig will make his first appearance playing the special agent, taking over Pierce Brosnan's suit. Besides the change of lead actors, baccarat will also be changed to the popular game Texas Holdem instead.

Article Source: http://www.a1-articledirectory.com

Sharon Gerad writes reviews and articles on online casinos and has been following James Bond since her childhood and because of James Bond she likes playing baccarat

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