Baccarat sucks if you’re playing it as “mini-baccarat.” But if you’re playing for high stakes, in a cool tuxedo, with a hot chick that might put out sometime between high speed car chases, you learn to ignore the fact that even with regular baccarat all decisions are made by the rules.
Yes, one of my sources (a pretty much throwaway type book of rules for card games for one and two players) tells the same story. Saratoga Springs NY, named for Mister Canfield, the owner of a popular gambling den. No idea if it’s true or an urban legend.
James Bond does play rock/paper/scissors in You Only Live Twice (the novel).
I hope this was a typo… Spend $50 for a chance to win up to $2? That sounds like an awfully bad bet, even by Vegas standards.
Haven’t seen Canfield, have seen Klondike (online). The Klondike was a multiple of $5.20 (so $5.20, 10.40, etc. up to $52.) Each card moved to the foundation pays $5 (in a $52 game), so you have to get 11 cards to the foundation within the amount of deals, which is not easy. This means, of course, winning the game pays $260, for a net win of $208.