Thread: Interview with Baccarat Pro Alex Sicnitz

I found this interview online, I've never heard of this guy before (Alex Sicnitz) but supposedly he's a real good baccarat professional player that makes big money... Check it out:

How does it feel to be regarded as one of the world’s best online baccarat players with such top-notch competition?

Sicnitz: It’s pretty great. My colleagues actually believe that I’m the best. I don’t know if that’s completely accurate or not, but just knowing that I have that much respect from my peers and the guys who I respected so much when I first started coming up is pretty amazing. That’s always been a big motivating factor for me in anything I do: Getting the respect of people that I respect.

The other part of respect from others is putting up the results that I’m putting up. It helps to be on a big heater. Running well is definitely a big part of it and I can’t deny that I’ve been running well for the past year. The fact that other people feel that way about me is really what, to me, means the most.

How did you get started in baccarat?

Sicnitz: I actually started in high school. Before I even knew what the hand rankings were and anything about baccarat in general, my friend Todd Lee, who went deep in 2008, was playing cards during free period in our junior year of high school. I saw him playing and took interest in it. Anytime when friends of mine became good at something, I usually got really into it too. They were really good at baccarat and that made me want to become better.

It wasn’t until later in college that I started making $50 deposits onto PlayersOnly and BetUS before I had the money to afford that. I just started working my way up in tournaments and then got a backing deal in the middle of 2007. Since then, I’ve been playing full-time.

When you started out, did you have trouble convincing your family and friends that baccarat was a worthwhile endeavor?

Sicnitz: I probably had more trouble convincing myself that baccarat was a worthwhile endeavor. There was definitely a while when it wasn’t worthwhile. I made some bad decisions. It wasn’t a great thing for me when I started off. My family has been really supportive. Winning and getting the results that I have been eases a lot of people’s worries, but before you start getting results and becoming a winning player, it’s natural for your parents not to be thrilled when you start gambling away money. It’s hard for some people to understand that baccarat is different than games like blackjack, poker, or bingo. No one was very supportive of it at first, but I stuck with it.

Once I finally started proving that I could make a career out of it and not only become successful, but also become one of the best, my parents loved it. My friends are also really into it and supportive of it. They know what I’m ranked all of the time. I’m lucky in that way. I feel like most people don’t have one, but I have a great support system.

Whose game do you respect and why?

Sicnitz: I feel like the first person that comes to mind in online baccarat is Mastoy “theBeast” Tombay. He just turned 21 years-old and already has a final table at Monte Carlo. He has absolutely ridiculous results online for not even playing that much. When you talk to him about the game, you understand that he’s playing above and beyond world-class baccarat. There are also guys like Steve “bigpopparico” Ganez, Rufus “letmehollaatya” Jackson, and Arthur “kingbacc” Lonce. Matthew “DrNews” Vincio is a guy who, when I first started coming up in baccarat, was a friend of a friend. He taught me a lot and I’ve always had a lot of respect for his game. He’s one of the best.

What advice do you have for new baccarat players?

Sicnitz: You have to be realistic about it. At first, I wasn’t sure if it was a great thing for me or not. It was something that I enjoyed doing, but wasn’t sure whether I wanted to get into it professionally. You might even argue that baccarat became an addiction before it became a career, which isn’t the healthiest thing. It’s one of those games which has that effect on people. You need to be unbiased when making the decision of whether you’re really going to try to be a baccarat pro.

There aren’t a lot of people who are able to do it. Even the people who are good enough to try to do it have a lot of other issues like money management. There’s more to being a professional baccarat player than just being good at baccarat. You have to be able to look at yourself before you make a big investment and decide whether it’s really for you. It’s not for everyone. It’s not a hard way to make a living. I’m not trying to make it seem like I have a really tough job, but it’s not an easy way to make a living, either. There aren’t many jobs where you can lose a lot of money in one day when you work for 12 hours. You have to really think about whether that’s the way you want to spend a certain number of hours per week or years of your life. It’s a big decision that I think sometimes people don’t take seriously enough.

That's pretty incredible. I wonder have those persons found a winning way? (I would've at least enquired.)

But over even a long period, statistically there's a handful of big winners.

Also, how do we know some of those online sites aren't (cheating the other way by) artificially promoting a few for the purpose of (cheap) advertisement?

G'day,

How do we know any of it is real?

I've never heard of any of those people, I've never even heard of baccarat competitions, (I know nothing, except my own system),
maybe it's all in this guy's own head?

Glenn

It sounds like Alex is playing mostly tournaments, which can be a very profitable profession if you have the skills. The winning strategies have been published for about 12 years now but very few people use them and they are very different than the winning strategies for non-tournament play. There used to be a few baccarat tournament teams in Vegas but the tournaments started to disappear so they moved to craps and blackjack tournaments which are still fairly popular. I’ve met a few of the tournament pros but I haven’t heard of Alex. He might be working on his own.

Playing online can also be profitable if you know how to take advantage of the casino bonuses.

Wow he didn't even mention the "great" E Clifton Davis.

I like him already

or the great and all mighty DRAGON>>>>>

Originally Posted by garnabby

That's pretty incredible.


Also, how do we know some of those online sites aren't artificially promoting a few for the purpose of (cheap) advertisement?

1. Gee, I wonder if that ever happens on this site ?

2. Where does this guy live. I never heard of junior high school students involved in baccarat, at least not in the US

3. Why don't I ever get invited to bacarrat tournaments? I am on every other mailing list

I think Garnaby has it right. This sounds too much like the crap you read on internet poker sites which really are aimed at young people.

What's with the rankings?
Are we ranked when we play online?
Is this solely from land-based tournaments?
Heard of online tournaments but don't know where.

Ugh... more questions...

Never seen any baccarat tournaments advertised when I'm in AC. Came across this website with little info: Succeed Now | Best Land Based Baccarat Venues

Also came across this: March 18-19 2011 Wynn Las Vegas Spring Bean Baccarat Tournament $300,000

Also read that Bally’s Casino New Orleans Mini Baccarat Tournament is held monthly, buy-in is free, and the prize is $100,000.

Just read it folks so do your own investigation.

There are indeed bac players who make good cake on a consistent basis but doubt many are playing online. This seems like an advertisement for online casinos, to me.

It would be great, if this story is true. It will at least supports the idea that baccarat games can be beaten. Unfortunately, this post has no evidences to support its claims. I don't know how many of you can trust and have played online games, but I personally do not play online games.