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Baccarat History

The game was introduced to the French Court in the 15th century and became the favorite game among French nobility. Targeted towards high rollers, Baccarat tables used to be exclusive territory with roped off access and dealers dressed in tuxedos.

How to Play Baccarat

There are three bets available: The Player’s hand, the Banker’s hand, or a Tie. A bet on the Banker pays even money minus a 5% house commission. In Mini Baccarat a casino dealer handles the deal. A Tie at any point in the game ends the hand and pays Tie bets. Natural hands always immediately win or Tie (although a 9 beats an 8). There are many debates pertaining to the history of baccarat, particularly where the game was invented: France or Italy. It's difficult to trace back the origins of this game mainly because slight variations of it name are used in both countries, each wanting to claim it as theirs. It's been suggested that the game was first played with a deck of Tarot cards in the middle ages. The Baccarat we know today originated in Great Britain and was then passed along to South America and finally to Nevada. Baccarat has a history overseas too, which is evidenced by its popularity among the Asian population who visit Las Vegas each year. Unlike the heavily ordered and systematic American casinos, these Portuguese tables often allow multiple players to bet on a single spot at the same time, while the expert dealers mentally keep track of each players commission on winning bank bets. The layout, conforms to the regular baccarat table and each of the seven seat positions correspond to a number and betting box with spots for banker, player, and tie. Lacking the formality and large group of players, mini-baccarat is played fast and is a good place to learn how to play.

Baccarat Rules

The most important thing you need to know is whether you are betting on the Player, on the Bank or on Tie. Baccarat is played with eight decks of cards without Jokers. At the beginning of the new game the shoe or the bank is given to the player on the right of the dealer. If the first two cards dealt count Eight or Nine it is called a "Natural" and wins automatically, unless both hands have the same value then it is of course a Tie. If the hand you bet on wins you get a one to one payoff. When there is a Tie and you did not bet on it nobody looses or wins. In Baccarat you always have to keep in mind that the fist digit in a two-digit number does not count. That is why the Ten, Jack, Queen and the King count 0 and the Ace only one. Depending on hand outcomes, the player hand will either draw a third card or stand. After the players turn, and depending on both the outcome of the players hand and its own, the dealer hand will either draw a third additional card or stand. Two components of the game need clearing up at this point. One factor is how hand values are tabulated. The other is how drawing a third card is determined. All other cards (tens and picture cards) are worth zero points. I will try to simplify this as much as possible with a few brief guidelines. If both hands have an 8 or 9, the game is deemed a tie, in which all Tie Bets win. Player shows a 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 or 0 Player Hand must Draw. Once the player hand is finished and standing, the bank hand will determine whether it must draw a third card. Banker shows a 6 Banker Hand must Draw if player's draw card is a 6 or 7 Banker Hand must Stand if player's draw card is a 0,1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8 or 9. The task for you as a player is to bet on the banker's hand, the player's hand, or a draw, which means that the two hands are tied. The payout for winning a bet on the banker's or the player's hand is even money, or 1 to 1 and winning draw bets are paid off at 8 to 1 odds or 9 to 1 depending on where you are playing. Although the payoff for winning a draw bet is much more appealing, the chances of actually getting it are pretty low. If the player or banker has a two card total of 8 or 9, he/she turns the cards over immediately. With a total of 6 or less, his selection depends on the value of his two card total and the value of the card that the player drew. So from reading this page you should have picked up enough about baccarat rules to play a game. Three dealers run the game and one of these is the caller who runs the game and stands between positions 1 and 15. Player put their bets on the numbered box in front of the players after the winner is called the other two dealers pay out or collect from the winners and losers around the table. If the hand is greater than 10 then 10 is subtracted from the total, this means that the value of the hand is always 0-9. A 9 is the best hand and beats all other totals followed by 8, if both the dealer and the player has an 8 or 9 the hand is tied and no money changes hands. If the dealer has 1 then he must draw. If the dealer has 4 then he must draw if your card is a 2-3-4-5-6-7. If the dealer has 6 then he must draw if your card is a 6-7.

Tips

- This tip is not to say that a player should never bet on the player hand, for sometimes a hunch can be the best thing going for a gambler. As for the tie wager, it should be out of the question since it gives a casino advantage of nearly 15%.
- Looking at the House Edge, it is lowered, albeit not substantially, for every deck taken out of the equation. These same probabilities in a baccarat game with six decks are 457% on the banker hand, 443% on the player hand, and 91% on the Tie.
- Play Baccarat at Casinos with the lowest commission possible. Usually this commission is 5%, which returns a House Edge of approximately 15%.
- Manage your money wisely, without a "system". Whatever you decide to follow, be sure you plan ahead of time.

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