Why did James Bond really play in Casino Royale

Many Ian Fleming purists had been clearly surprised to see James Bond playing poker instead of the baccarat described in the book. Probably poker won its place in the film due to its increasing popularity in the world nowadays, but it had always been baccarat that bore the title of the most aristocratic high-stake game.

Baccarat is an originally French game (Fr. title “baccara”) in which the goal to be reached by the players is accumulating as many point as possible using two or three cards at most. In the purest and oldest incarnations of this game the players played against each other and each of them decided whether he or she needed to draw the third card in addition to the already drawn two. Currently this game is usually played in casinos, the only player plays against the casino with the help of a dealer and whether the third card will be drawn or not is regulated by the specific casino rules. This modern version of baccarat – “mini-baccarat” is also known under the Spanish nickname “Punto Banko” and French “chemin de fer”, “the nine” or “macau”.

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