Best Baccarat Players of All-Time

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There have been plenty of top baccarat players over the years. But who is the best baccarat player in the world?

If you’re unfamiliar with the casino world, the chances are that James Bond introduced you to baccarat. Sean Connery played the card game in Dr. No back in 1962 before Daniel Craig revived the tradition in Casino Royale.

However, many gamblers have played baccarat professionally. I’m not sure whether they were inspired by 007, but some of the best baccarat players of all time have lived a similar life to the fictional secret agent.

Thanks to the top real money baccarat apps, anyone can enjoy the classic casino game in this day and age. Funnily enough, though, many of the best baccarat players in history existed long before the invention of the internet.

Without further ado, let’s examine the top baccarat players to have walked the earth.

Aiko Kashiwagi

Few would argue that Aiko Kashiwagi is not the best professional baccarat player of all time.

Before we go any further, it is worth noting that Kashiwagi didn’t make his fortune playing baccarat. Instead, the Japanese business tycoon reportedly earned annual profits of $100 million via the Tokyo real estate market.

Either way, the super-rich investor had money to blow at the baccarat table.

Nicknamed “The Warrior,” Kashiwagi became famous for wagering huge sums at Las Vegas and Atlantic City casinos. It was not uncommon for him to bet $100,000 or $200,000 per hand, which led to multiple high-profile wins.

In 1990, Kashiwagi almost crippled Donald Trump’s Taj Mahal Casino. Kashiwagi struck a deal with Trump, with the high-stakes gambler agreeing to play baccarat until he either won or lost $12 million.

At one stage, Kashiwagi was up $10 million. But Trump used various tactics to unsettle the world’s best baccarat player. Consequently, Kashiwagi began to lose before the house stopped the game. He never got the chance to see out the deal.

Sadly, Kashiwagi’s life ended in tragedy. On January 3, 1992, the baccarat legend was found dead in his Mount Fuji home with as many as 150 stab wounds. To this day, the murder remains unsolved.

When discussing the best baccarat players ever, Kashiwagi must be included in the conversation.

Phil Ivey

We all know that Phil Ivey is among the most famous poker players. But did you know that he is among the world’s best baccarat players?

“The Tiger Woods of Poker” has collected no fewer than ten World Series of Poker bracelets over the years. Only one person – Phil Hellmuth – has won more. Better still, he has achieved 31 final table appearances and 59 money finishes.

Ivey also has a World Poker Tour title to his name, in addition to nine final table appearances and 13 money finishes. Unsurprisingly, he was elected to the Poker Hall of Fame in 2017.

Five years earlier, Ivey won a reported £7.3 million ($12 million) playing baccarat at London’s Crockfords Casino. However, he was refused payment beyond his initial £1 million after the house accused him of edge sorting.

Ivey also won millions of dollars playing baccarat at the Borgata Casino in Atlantic City. Although the US casino attempted to sue Ivey for edge sorting, both parties agreed and organized a settlement.

Following Ivey’s tactics might land you in hot water if you want to learn how to become a great baccarat player. Still, there is no denying that he is one of the world’s most successful baccarat players.

Believe it or not, the Californian has earned more than $37 million across his professional poker career. Naturally, this puts him among the richest players in poker history.

Kerry Packer

At the time of his death, Kerry Packer was Australia’s richest man. When the media mogul passed away in 2005, he had a net worth of $6.5 billion.

Needless to say, Packer’s riches enabled him to wager astronomical sums at casinos. Judging by some of his notable wins over the years, it could be argued that Packer was the world’s best baccarat player at one point in time.

In 1995, the Australian enjoyed a remarkable baccarat hot streak at a Las Vegas casino. Betting as much as $500,000 per hand, he ended up winning $26 million in a matter of hours.

Packer also earned around $15 million in profit during a single visit to the famous MGM Grand.

By all accounts, Packer had a photographic memory. This enabled him to track cards and figure out baccarat odds.

There are plenty of interesting baccarat secrets to discover, but money can’t buy a photographic memory!

Who is the top baccarat player of all time? It is difficult to answer that question, but Packer is undoubtedly in the mix. He might not be the most skillful player in the history of the game, but his outrageous billionaire antics saw him win – and lose – a ludicrous amount of money.

John Warne Gates

You can’t say that John Warne Gates was a top professional baccarat player because he actually earned a fortune by selling barbed wire. But you can say that he is among the best baccarat players of all time.

Born in Chicago in 1855, Gates befriended a group of railroad workers who taught him how to play casino card games. The rest, as they say, is history.

Gates and his companions often played baccarat on train trips between Chicago and New York. The plucky gambler decided to bet $1 million in a single round on one particular journey. To put things into perspective, that is approximately $27 million in today’s money!

His opponent matched the bet, and the pair proceeded using the “cheval” rule. Although the game was eventually tied, the audacious nature of Gates’ gamble earned him the nickname “Mr. Bet-a-Million.”

In addition to playing poker, Gates enjoyed betting on horse racing. He once wagered $70,000 on a horse race in England and came away with $600,000. Again, that was a staggering sum at the time. Suffice to say, he’d have a heck of a time at the top horse racing betting sites.

Gates died in Paris back in 1911. Still, he will always be remembered as a baccarat pioneer.

Edward Thorp

Edward Thorp is an American mathematics professor, author, and hedge fund manager. He is also an expert gambler thanks to his unrivalled math and probability knowledge.

The Chicago native wrote Beat the Dealer – a best-selling book that shipped 700,00 copies in 1966. In the book, Thorp mathematically proves that the house advantage in blackjack can be overcome by card counting.

But Thorp didn’t just stick to blackjack. He also developed strategies for roulette, backgammon, and, of course, baccarat. As a result, he is believed to be one of the richest gamblers in history.

Baccarat’s rules prevent a fast shuffle, making it difficult for players to get the better of the dealer. But Thorp developed a system to beat it, using his background in mathematics to aid his gambling.

The 90-year-old was an inaugural member of the Blackjack Hall of Fame. Although there is no official hall of fame for baccarat, Thorp would almost certainly be recognized if a baccarat hall of fame came to fruition.

Tommy Renzoni

If it weren’t for Tommy Renzoni, the US baccarat scene would look a whole lot different today. In fact, the best baccarat players can thank Renzoni for bringing the game to American casinos.

It is believed that Argentina was the first country in the Americas to introduce baccarat. Known as Punto Y Banco (or simply punto banco), the game spread across the Americas and eventually arrived in Renzoni’s native country of Cuba.

Predicting that punto banco would take off in American casinos, Renzoni traveled to the United States and proposed the game to the Sands Casino. Following successful negotiations, baccarat hit US casinos in the 1950s.

After introducing baccarat to Las Vegas and beyond, Renzoni wrote about the game.

In 1977, he published Baccarat: Everything You Want to Know About Playing and Winning. The book is still on sale to this day.

Granted, little is known about Renzoni’s baccarat skills. But having established an unrivalled standing in the game’s history, he deserves to be regarded among the top baccarat players.

The Greek Syndicate

All the other entries on my list of the best baccarat players are individuals. However, the Greek Syndicate was a group of top baccarat players.

Admittedly, the name of the group makes it sound like the Greek Syndicate was some kind of illegal betting ring made up of gangsters or mafia members. But this was simply a collection of the best baccarat players on the planet.

Before we dig deeper into the story, allow me to introduce you to the five members of the Greek Syndicate.

• Eli Eliopulo
• Nicolas Zographos
• Francois Andre
• Zaret Couyoumdjian
• Athanase Vagliano

In the early 1900s, Eli Eliopulo and Nicolas Zographos left Greece for Paris to challenge – and attempt to become – the best professional baccarat players in Europe. While touring the Parisian casino circuit, the Greek duo met established pro gambler Zaret Couyoumdjian.

The trio went on to join forces with Athanase Vagliano, who bankrolled the syndicate with his shipping fortune. Soon after, Francois Andre became the fifth and final member of the legendary group.

Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, the Greek Syndicate dominated the high-stakes baccarat scenes in Paris, Cannes, and Monte Carlo.

They continued to turn over huge profits until the start of World War II.

Thanks mainly to Zographos’ mathematical and memorization skills, the group was able to make a mockery of casino dealers. Zographos could memorize hand after hand, allowing him to predict the order of cards correctly.

Nobody is quite sure what became of the Greek Syndicate. Nevertheless, the iconic quintet will always be remembered among the best baccarat players ever.

How to Become a Great Baccarat Player

Who is the best baccarat player in the world? That is not an easy question to answer. Although there have been countless top baccarat players over the years, picking the game’s undisputed GOAT is no easy task.

Who knows? Maybe YOU could become the world’s best baccarat player one day.

Of course, that may seem like an unachievable goal. But following the tips below will only enhance your chances of becoming a top professional baccarat player.

Here are four tips for how to become a great baccarat player.

• Practice at the best online casinos – Practice makes perfect, right? Practicing online is a great way to start if you’re serious about being great.
• Learn from the best baccarat players – Analyze the methods of the greatest baccarat players before integrating their strategies into your own game.
• Develop your own strategies – In addition to learning from the top baccarat players, you can attempt to create your own strategies.
• Study our guide to playing baccarat – Our baccarat guide covers all the bases, from how to play and fundamentals to useful baccarat tips and more.

To be clear, there’s nothing to guarantee you’ll be great at baccarat, let alone one of the best baccarat players in history. That said, there’s nothing wrong with picking up a new game, and you won’t know how good you’ll be until you try it.

Interest in learning about more casino games? Take a look at some of the most obscure gambling games you can find at casinos.