Man wins nearly $13,000,000 by playing baccarat

Hong Kong's Lin Haisan has set a new world record by winning HKD 100 million, which is worth around $12.890,500, by playing baccarat.

Lin won the cash at the 2015 World Series Baccarat Championship which was held at the Sheraton Macao Hotel and was organised by the Suncity Group. His winnings represented the greatest amount of prize money ever awarded to an individual at a baccarat tournament.

The amount of money in the prize pot for the tournament was HKD 119,000,000 ($15,339,600) which also set a new record for the greatest amount of money available at a baccarat tournament.

Baccarat is the casino game that's popular with high rollers. Players can bet on the outcome of two hands, known as player and banker or 'punto' and 'banco'. The winning hand is the one where the 'units' total of the cards is closest to nine.

Lin had won through to the final baccarat showdown via two qualifying events – one at the Crowne Plaza Melbourne in Australia, and the other at Sands China's Venetian Macao – before taking his place at the semi-final table at the Suncity tournament. Lin made it through to the final table and eventually cashed-in on his record-breaking prize.

The Hong Kong resident was not the only winner on the night. Suncity also donated HKD 1,000,000 to the Macao Tung Sin Tong Charitable Society and Cradle of Hope Assocation.

While nearly $13 million is certainly not be sniffed at, Baccarat still has a little way to go in matching poker for the prize pots the top poker tournaments create. The current world record for a single poker prize stands at $18,300,000 which was won by Iran-born, San Francisco-based poker pro Antonio 'The Magician' Esfandiari at 2012's 'Big One For One Drop' tournament, held in Las Vegas.