Baccarat is by far one of the best games to play in a live setting, only beaten by craps from an entertainment standpoint. If you ever get to play on a BIG baccarat table, the experience can make you feel like a Monte Carlo high roller even if you're playing the table minimum.
Story time!
A decade ago I was playing in a casino on vacation. Poker that night was really good to me and the game broke. I wandered over to a table game pit and they had a big baccarat table with a few spots open. I sat down and realized I was the only non-asian player about to play! I was just betting table minimum for awhile every now and then. I just kept to myself and then a couple other players started to bet Ties for me! Apparently, the table was absolutely thrilled / surprised / intrigued that there was another ethnicity(?) at the table with them! I had $50 on the Tie as a freeroll, and wouldn't you know it? A freaking natural 8 came out on both sides, paying me 8 to 1! So there I am with $450 in literal free money and they're all saying to bet Banker on it now!
Just as an aside, at a big baccarat table, whoever bets the most on either Player or Banker is the one who gets to look at / squeeze out the cards for that side. There were some players betting a few thousand every hand and had rows upon rows of $1,000 chips. These players, along with the rest of the table, were telling me if I bet it all on Banker that I could look at the cards! Meaning that no one else would bet higher than my $450 wager. This was absolutely DUMBFOUNDING to me. Looking back on this, it was incredibly gracious (or maybe they were just getting more entertainment from the novelty of me betting?) of them to let me take the reins for one hand.
This was by far the biggest table games bet I would ever make in my life. I put the $450 on Banker and the cards were coming out. I squeezed out a paint and a three across, meaning I had at least a 6 to 8! The dealer turned over the Player hand for a total of 6 meaning I was free rolling! I told the table it was looking good! I turn over the
and with a dramatic flair flipped over the
! The table erupted for me! I got paid out and knew that it was time to make a hasty retreat (it being nearly 4:00 a.m. at this time) so I thanked everyone and went back to my hotel!