There can be few people who, whether they were aware of it or not, have not experienced some exposure to the game of Baccarat. Anyone who has ever read a James Bond novel or thrilled to the adventures of Ian Fleming's fictional hero at the local movie theatre will recognize Baccarat as 007's casino game of choice. It is only fitting perhaps that the suave and sophisticated Bond should favour a game once the exclusive reserve of the aristocracy.

Appearing first in Italy during the late fifteenth century, the game was immediately popular and began to spread rapidly. In France, it soon became

The earliest evidence of the game of backgammon was discovered in the region once known as Mesopotamia where it appears to have been played at the time of the Persian Empire. The game survived a succession of conquering armies and proceeded to spread its way across Europe and thence to the Middle and Far East. The game's simple rules and fast action have made it a popular favourite with many millions of players and now boasts its own international tournament structure and world championships. Many will recall the Egyptian-born, Hollywood actor Omar Sharif as a prominent International

Together with the occasional flutter on the horses, Bingo was one of the earliest forms of Gambling tom be legalised in Europe and the United Kingdom. First introduced in the late fifties, the newly introduced game of chance became immediately popular particularly with the western world's working class. Bingo offered players the irresistible combination of a great social evening with their friends whilst indulging in an entertaining and inexpensive gambling activity that offered the prospects of an attractive prize or two. As with many other overnight crazes, recent years have seen a steady

The game we now know as blackjack made its debut in the casinos of France as early as 1700. At that time, it was known as vingt-et-un or twenty-one to English speakers. The game soon became popular throughout Europe although its form differed considerably from that of the modern game. The initial reception of the Game in America was a cols one and casino owners were forced to offer some quite sacrificial odds to promote any interest. One casino introduced offered players exceptionally high odds of 10 to 1 for a hand consisting of the ace of spades plus either the jack of clubs or the jack

Caribbean stud poker is a popular derivative of the basic stud game. It is widely played today in both online and land-based casinos. Caribbean stud is a game for up to seven players who each receive a five-card poker hand and must attempt to beat that of the dealer. Caribbean stud rules parallel closely those of the five-card stud game differing mainly in that the players pit themselves against the house rather than against each other. This format favours the house, which in the long run cannot be beaten. There is nothing to be gained from bluff in Caribbean stud poker and it is not even

The popular game of Casino War has its origins in a simple children's game known as "War". It is an easily understood and simple-to-play, card game that offers the player some fast and exciting action. Beware; however, Casino War favours the house with an edge somewhat greater than that of other casino games. The game is played using six standard packs of 52 cards. In play, the cards are ranked precisely as for poker, but with the exception that the aces are always ranked as high.

To open play, a single card is dealt to both the player and the dealer. The outcomes are straightforward. If

According to archeologists, the game we know today as Craps may have been played for over a thousand years. This would make it the oldest for of gambling known, although clearly the format of the game has since changed considerably.

It is quite likely that the first thing to attract your attention when entering a casino will be the Craps table. Invariably it will be surrounded by a gathering of animated spectators shouting their encouragement to the competing players. The main appeal of the game lies in the fact that it requires the physical participation of the player while providing the

Keno is a game that found its way into the casinos of the United States following its popularity among the country's numerous Chinese immigrants. It resembles the European game of Bingo in many ways but displays some characteristic and entertaining differences. Keno, like Bingo, is a numbers game.

In Bingo, randomly pre-printed cards, each bearing a unique set of numbers, are purchased by the players. By contrast, in Keno games, all of the tickets are identical and contain the numbers 1 to 80 arranged in an eight by ten grid. Next, the Keno player proceeds to tailor-make his or her own

Let it Ride was created by Shuffle Master Inc, a well-known manufacturer of automatic card shuffling machines, who introduced the game into casinos in 1993. In the process, Shuffle Master Inc produced both a brand new casino gambling opportunity and a captive market for their product. The game gained immediate popularity largely due to its potential for high payouts. The nature of the play in Let it Ride is quite unusual in that it neither involves players competing against one another, nor players attempting to beat a dealer. This permits friendly interaction between the players and

Poker is a game of both skill and chance. It combines the ranking of hands with a strict system of betting and an element of bluff. It is interesting to note that poker hands are frequently not won by players with the stronger hands but by those skilled in the art of bluffing. The bluffing component, happily, has no relevance in online poker games, a fact that tends to level the playing field for newbies.

The game of Poker has many faces and, over recent years, through the medium of television, the public has been introduced to its once lesser-known variants like Texas Hold'em and Omaha

The game known as Pai Gow Poker and played in casinos today, derives from a game that originated in Ancient China and that was played with a set of tiles not unlike Western dominoes. Confirming, once more, the old adage that "necessity is the mother of invention", a Los Angeles casino manager, desperate to survive against his larger and more powerful competitors, devised Pai Gow and a second game, both of which proved to be an immediate success.

The main modifications introduced by Fred Wolf in the early eighties were the replacement of the Chinese tiles by a standard deck of 52 playing

Poker Dice is a highly entertaining and much simplified form of poker that is played using a set of dice rather than a deck of cards. The game employs a total of five dice and each carries, instead of the numbers one to six, symbols of the Ace, King, Queen, Jack and ten. With just thirty sides available from a set of five poker dice, they are not able to include any means of differentiation according to suit.

The game of Poker Dice works best when it is played by no more than two to five players and its simple objective is to build the best poker hand through a series of rolls.

Each

Poker Three is an extremely simple game that is loosely based upon the rules of poker. It I in fact a combination of two games in one known respectively as "pair plus" and "ante and play". A player may bet on either one or both of the two games during play.

Of the two component games, "pair plus" is certainly the simpler. In this game, each player places a bet and the dealer serves him or her a hand that is played immediately. Once played, the hand will receive any payout for which it qualifies in accordance with the odds defined in the house pay table. The game involves no decision making

The game of Punto Banco is a close relative of the better-known casino favourite, Baccarat. In fact, in many South American casinos, Baccarat is more often known as Punto Banco. The term Punto means player while Banco means bank and, together, they describe the two principal bets that comprise Punto Banco.

Punto Banco may be played using differing table types. While some casinos, often the smaller provincial ones, favour a Blackjack-style table with a single dealer, at larger casinos players are seated an oval or kidney-shaped table, similar to that employed in the French game of "Chemin

The name Red Dog Poker is actually somewhat misleading as, in fact, it bears far more resemblance to Blackjack than it does to Poker. The only thing it has in common with poker is its betting convention that incorporates an ante and the option to "raise" or "stand" (check). In its modern form, it has been derived from an original banking game in which players simply wagered on whether any card in their hand would be higher or equal to a single card dealt to the table.

Don't look for Red Dog in dedicated poker rooms whether online or offline as it is not recognised among players as related