Top 5 Baccarat Players: World’s Biggest Legends to Remember
Meet the world’s Top Baccarat Players who’ll inspire you to play. Also look at the ups & downs these 5 Baccarat Legends encountered in their journey to win big.
Baccarat is seen as a game of chance rather than skill. Who’d have guessed that such a simple game would generate so much debate about its players? Because of its simple gameplay, baccarat has a big following of players. ‘Whales,’ or gamblers who gamble with millions in their pockets, are popular at the Baccarat table.
W88 has a collection of game winning tips and tricks articles to enhance your style of playing various games. Baccarat means either double your million-dollar stakes or getting nothing at all. This high-risk table game has given birth to some of the most intriguing stories in the gambling industry. You’ll travel across different decades and locales as you learn about the 5 top baccarat players in the world.
1. Akio Kashiwagi (1938 – 1992)
Full Name: Akio Kashiwagi
Death: 1992
Country: Japan
Nickname: The Warrior
Biggest win: $10,000,000
We knew where to begin when it came to Baccarat players. Akio Kashiwagi is a professional baccarat player as well as a gambling icon in general. Akio Kashiwagi’s life was full of ups and downs. His killing remains an unsolved murder. Let’s start from the beginning.
One thing to keep in mind about Akio Kashiwagi is that he adored the title “The Warrior”. The Japanese gambler, who was born in Tokyo, decided to make a name for himself as a real estate investor. When asked about his job in a casino, he would simply say, “business.”
Baccarat was more than just a passion for the notorious Warrior when it came to his gambling habits. Kashiwagi, a renowned poker player, routinely bet between $100,000 and $200,000 per hand. Baccarat was always his preferred game. The Warrior would sit at the table for hours on end, not sleeping for days at a time.
The Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City was a remarkable milestone in his turbulent life. Kashiwagi bet as much as $12 million in 1990.
Regrettably, his life was cut short. Kashiwagi was allegedly stabbed 150 times with a samurai sword at his Japanese residence when he was just 54 years old. His death is said to have been provoked by the yakuza, adding to the controversy surrounding his death.
The Warrior is still remembered by 21st-century baccarat players, and high-rollers look up to him.
Going back in time a little, to the 19th century, to the birth of businessman John Warne Gates.
It was evident from the start that Mr. Gates was destined for greatness. Despite being raised on a farm, John never wanted to be a farmer. Instead, he showed a proclivity for business from a young age. He majored in bookkeeping and business law, which he eventually used to his hobbies.
Gates was invited to poker parties by some friends when he discovered he was a natural card player. After winning $600,000 on a horse race, baccarat players earned the moniker Bet A Million. Bet A Million, like The Warrior, was a high-stakes gambler. On poker and baccarat, he would bet tens of thousands of dollars. John Gates never played slot machines or blackjack.
Mr. Bet-A-Million was honored in the Hall of Great Westerners in 1972.
Full Names: Francois Andre, Eli Eliopulo, Athanase Vagliano, Zaret Couyoumdjian, and Nicolas Zographos
Country: Eliopulo, Vaglianos, and Zographos were from Greece, Andre was from France, and Couyoumdjian was from Armenia
Nickname: Greek Syndicate
Biggest win: Approximately £3,000,000
Unlike the other people mentioned in this article, this isn’t just one person who spent a lot of money or was really fortunate. This was a group of people who handled the game in a systematic manner, as the name implies. They believed that team play is a modern innovation.
The Greek Syndicate is a gang of French, Armenian, and Greek baccarat players that employ math and photographic memory to land large sums of money in Parisian casinos.
Francois Andre, Zaret Couyoumdjian, Athanase Vagliano, Eli Eliopulo, and Nicolas Zographos created this band of great baccarat players in 1919. They performed in a variety of casinos in Cannes, Paris, Deauville, and Monte Carlo.
With impressive memory and sharp analytical skills in arithmetic, Zographos was the group’s leader. He memorized all of the cards handed in the game, giving him and his teammates a significant advantage.
4. Phil Ivey (Born 1977)
Full Name: Phillip Dennis Ivey Jr.
Age: 44
Country: USA
Nickname: Tiger Woods of Poker
Biggest win: $9,600,000
Phil Ivey is a professional poker player who played baccarat, winning about $10 million in Las Vegas and London. He employed a then-unknown approach called edge counting with a collaborator named Kelly Sun, in which they tracked the cards based on minute features on their edges.
The Borgata and Crockfords, on the other hand, refused to wire Ivey his winnings, and the Borgata even sued him, alleging that he cheated by using defect cards. Edge counting is a kind of cheating, according to the court, which agreed with the casino.
Whatever the case may be, Phil Ivey is a true gambling celebrity. He can be found at a variety of tables, raking in cash like there’s no tomorrow.
Phil Ive’s name can be seen in the Poker Hall of Fame.
5. Kerry Packer (1937 – 2005)
Full Name: Kerry Francis Bullmore Packer
Death: 2005
Country: Australia
Nickname: Gambling’s Big Man
Biggest win: A$33,000,000
Kerry Packer was an Australian businessman and media tycoon who had no doubts about betting millions because he was always worth more than he bet. He had some of the industry’s most notorious successes and losses. He was known as one of the world’s largest gamblers by the time he died.
A three-day baccarat binge in Las Vegas, where he lost a whopping £13,600,000, was one of his most memorable occasions. Meanwhile, one of his largest wins came at the MGM Grand Casino in Las Vegas, where he won A$33 million despite losing $27 million. Due to his failing health, he died in 2005, and Australia held a state funeral for him at the Sydney Opera House.
Let’s finish with a memorable Kerry Packer quote:
“I pay whatever tax I am required to pay under the law, not a penny more, not a penny less.”
Tales of Successful Baccarat Players in the World – Inspire Yourself
To keep it simple, Baccarat is a game of chance. Some of the top baccarat Players on this list have won and lost more money in their lives than the average individual can make in their lifetime. Few Baccarat Players, on the other hand, have colorful and fascinating lives. This is possible when you have a keen sense of intuition, remarkable mathematical skills, and a substantial budget to back up your high-stakes hobby. It’s never too late to try something time. Learn to play Baccarat at W88 and Be the next millionaire!
