Baccarat History

Although it has always been a popular game in European and Latin American casinos, it never caught on as strongly as Blackjack in US casinos. In the 1950’s the game was popularized in Vegas because of the efforts of Frank Sinatra, a co-owner of The Sands at the time.

How to Play Baccarat

There are three bets available: The Player’s hand, the Banker’s hand, or a Tie. Aces count as One and Two through Nine are counted at face value. In Mini Baccarat a casino dealer handles the deal. If neither hand is 9 a hand with a total of 8 is a Natural winner. The Player’s hand is dealt to first, and only if the current value is 5 or less. 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. According to many, the game was first invented in Italy by a gambler Felix Falguiere, where it acquired the Italian name 'baccara', meaning zero in English. It was later on introduced in France around 1490 A. The infamous Dunes casino introduced baccarat in the late 50's. The highest of the high rollers often come from overseas to try their hand under the chandeliers of the stylish Vegas baccarat rooms. A number of casinos have installed a smaller version of the baccarat game played on standard blackjack-sized gaming tables. The limits are lower and usually range from a $2 to $5 minimum, up to $500 maximum. 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

Baccarat is played with eight decks of cards without Jokers. At the beginning of a new game or when the Cut Card in the Shoe is dealt, the dealer will shuffle all decks together and put them back in the shoe, called "The Bank". The player with the bank deals two sets of two cards, if of course the game is played by two players. When nobody has a natural additional cards are drawn to determine the baccarat winner. 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. Unlike in Black Jack it is impossible to overdraw in Baccarat. 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. The other is how drawing a third card is determined. All cards numbered 2 through 9 are worth their numeric value. If this sum goes over ten, subtract ten and you will have the final value. For instance, a hand of 6 and 10 will have a total value of 6. If one hand is an 8 and the other is a 9, the 9 wins. Once the player hand is finished and standing, the bank hand will determine whether it must draw a third card. Banker shows a 7, 8 or 9 (8 and 9 win) Banker Hand must Stand. 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. After the dealer has finished drawing, the hands are added up and a winner is declared. The game is played modulo 10, that is if the total of the hand is greater than 10, then 10 is subtracted from the total. (Thus the value of a hand is always between 0 through 9). If the players cards total 15, 10 is subtracted and the value of the hand becomes 5. 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 player stands on a total of 6 or 7, but if the player has a total of 5 or less he/she must draw one card (face up) Now it is the bankers turn. There aren't many rules, and the baccarat rules that do exist are fairly simple, they just differ from other games you may have played at the casino, so may take a little getting used to. This means the game is quite simple especially as there are only three possible bets that can be made. 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. When the bank wins the house claims a %5 cut of the winnings and the total amount is collected every time the shoe is reshuffled. If your score is below 6 then you must hit and receive a third card, if you receive a third card then the dealer takes another depending on your total. If the dealer has 1 then he must draw. If the dealer has 2 then he must draw. Once all the hands are dealt it is closest to 9 that wins.

Tips

- Since the house edge is relatively similar for both bets, it is presumptuous to entirely negate the player hand wager. Going back the card-counting issue, if a player does indeed insist on counting cards, they should pay attention to 6's and 4's. As for the tie wager, it should be out of the question since it gives a casino advantage of nearly 15%.
- Play Baccarat Games with the fewest decks. 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.
- On the banker bet, the casino charges a vig, or commission to counter the players advantage. sometimes casinos will only impose a 4% commission, which brings the House Edge on the banker bet down to only approximately %.
- Manage your money wisely, without a "system". At the least, set yourself limits on losses and stake amounts.

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