Baccarat has been popular in Europe for the last two hundred years. Even the famous British spy James Bond played Baccarat in a couple of his missions. But does this game depend entirely on luck, or is it a game of skill? Most people believe that nothing but luck determines the outcome of the game. However, the people on this list have tried to prove it otherwise. The massive wins we will see here tell a story of people who have made significant wins in the game using the power of their minds and incredible ability to take risks. Let’s see who the best Baccarat player in the world is and how much they won during their Baccarat career.
Akio Kashiwagi
Akio Kashiwagi is known as the Warrior. He didn’t make his fortune in the game but added a significant sum to it by playing Baccarat. Akio was born in Tokyo and made himself one of the richest people in Japan’s real estate industry. Some sources say the Warrior’s net worth had reached $1 billion in assets. Akio Kashiwagi has several exciting stories in his life. First, he never played Baccarat with lower than $100,000. He even increased his stakes to $200,000 whenever the casino allowed it. He was famous for playing long hours. He once played the game for 80 straight hours without getting any rest or going to bed.
The second interesting thing about Akio is his story with Donald Trump, the former president of the United States. In 1991, he stepped into Trump’s casino with $12 million. He made a deal with Trump to play until he doubled his sum or lost it all. In his first winning streak, he went up to $10 million. But then, Trump, seeing the amount he was losing, changed the dealers from women to men. This apparently destroyed Akio’s game, and he started losing. When he had lost almost $10 million, Trump went back on his original deal and ended the game, fearing that Akio would make another comeback. The third amazing story about Akio Kashiwagi was the way he died. Only one year after his massive loss in Trump’s casino, Akio was murdered in his home by 150 stabs from a Samurai sword. The Japanese Yakuza was suspected to be responsible for the murder, but the culprits were never arrested, and the truth is still a mystery.
Phil Ivey
You might be completely surprised to see Phil Ivey’s name on this list. After all, with ten WSOP bracelets and millions of dollars of prize money, he is known as one of the most successful poker players of his time. But this is not all to this man’s story. Phil and his assistant Sun decided to conquer Baccarat tables in casinos worldwide with a unique technique they had developed. Their method consisted of Sun memorizing the specific markings or imperfections on the deck of cards. They entered a casino with the intention of booking an entire Baccarat table to themselves for one million dollars. Then they asked for a dealer who could only speak Mandarin, Sun’s mother tongue, which allowed him to ask the dealer for favors without the casino owners having a clue. They also asked to turn the tables 180 degrees and use a specific deck of cards.
When they had their three wishes granted, they started playing the game and winning considerable sums in a short time. The two players had made over $20 million until the casino owners caught up with them and complained against them for cheating. Unfortunately, they lost the court proceedings and had to pay back all of the money. But that doesn’t stop them from becoming the best Baccarat players in history.
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Kerry Packer
Packer was Australia’s richest man when he died in 2005. He had made his fortune in the media industry and didn’t mind losing some of it at the Baccarat table. Kerry preferred to play in the Las Vegas casinos and start Baccarat games with insanely high stakes. For instance, in 1995, he started a round with $500,000 and managed to increase the sum to $26 million. What was Kerry Packer’s secret of winning that much money in such a short time? Some people say luck has nothing to do with this, and he used his photographic memory to memorize the cards already dealt.
This could be an effective way of winning a Baccarat table, but it does not justify the huge losses that Packer experienced in his life. For instance, he had to let go of $18.6 million in one round of Baccarat in a casino in Las Vegas. Whatever the case, Kerry Packer’s Baccarat career had many ups and downs, and he kept playing until his death. When he died, he was known as Gambling’s Big Man, and a state funeral was held for him in Sydney’s Opera House.
Archie Karas
Have you heard the expression “easy come, easy go”? It is the life story of Anargyros Nicholas Karabourniotis, or Archie Karas, in the gambling world. Archie was a self-made gambler/millionaire who had a nice run in Vegas Casinos before returning to his normal life. The story is that he borrowed $10,000 from his friend and headed to Las Vegas in his car. Upon arriving, he paid back his debt and earned over $40 million. He didn’t limit himself to one game and circulated between playing pool, poker, Craps, and Baccarat. Unfortunately, in 1995, he ran out of luck and started losing his money while playing high-stakes games at the casino. By the end of that year, he had lost everything and returned to where he had started. But at least it was fun, wasn’t it?
Tommy Renzoni
Tommy Renzoni crossed the ocean and stepped onto American soil with the mission of introducing Baccarat into Las Vegas casinos. It wasn’t an easy task because while Baccarat had been popular in Europe for hundreds of years, very few casinos knew about it in the United States. His fame in the Baccarat world is unrelated to how much he won in the game. Instead, it’s his contribution to the game itself and the few books he wrote teaching the game’s secrets to the world.
To sum up
Baccarat has always been a game for the affluent and the elite. Perhaps this is why this game has gathered many of the richest names in history around its tables. But among the most famous Baccarat players in the world, there are also the ones who started from nothing and managed to make a name and a fortune for themselves playing the game. Whichever is the case, Baccarat has never stopped tempting gambling lovers, and it’s nowhere near stopping now.
FAQ
Who has the Guinness World record of winning in Baccarat?
The Guinness world record for winning in a Baccarat game belongs to Lin Hassan, who won $12.9 million in a tournament in Macau. Hassan’s luck seemed to never run out because he won another $15 million in the World Series Baccarat Championship.
Who is the Greek Syndicate?
The Greek Syndicate was a group of 5 people who played Baccarat in European casinos before World War II. The members of the group were Francois Andre, Zavet Couyoumdijan, Eli Eliopulo, Authanas Vagliano, and Nicolas Zographos. The leader of the group was Zographos, who had exceptional mathematical skills and helped his team do better in the games.
Who was Mr. Bet A Million?
John Warne Gates was known as Mr. Bet A Million because he put one million dollars into a game of Baccarat and asked his opponent to do the same. Whoever won the game would win the other person’s million dollars. In the end, the game was a tie, and nobody won anything, but the name stuck with Gates forever.
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