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Baccarat History

The present form of Baccarat can be traced back to Italy. 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.

How to Play Baccarat

Baccarat is a very simple game to play with no decisions made after a bet is placed. There are three bets available: The Player’s hand, the Banker’s hand, or a Tie. The winning hand is the hand that holds two or three cards totaling closest to nine. Even though the player dealing is acting as the Banker, he is not obligated to bet on the Banker’s hand. After the Player’s hand is complete, the Banker’s hand is dealt out according to the following set of rules: If the Player did not draw a third card, then the Banker only draws a card to a hand of 4 or less. 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's been suggested that the game was first played with a deck of Tarot cards in the middle ages. Eventually, baccarat evolved into European baccarat and the French game 'chemin de fer'. Chemin de fer is very similar to baccarat as it's played in American casinos today. If an eight or a nine was thrown, she would become the priestess; if she threw a six or seven, she would be banned from any further religious activities; if she threw any number less than six, she would walk into the sea. There exists quite a diversity today, especially so since it has made its way onto the world wide web. The highest of the high rollers often come from overseas to try their hand under the chandeliers of the stylish Vegas baccarat rooms. It is played by the exact same rules, but lacks the accoutrements of the formal version.

Baccarat Rules

Then he will take the very first card out and whatever the value of this card is indicates how many cards will be Burned. The baccarat game is now ready to play. Once the bank looses it moves on to the next player. The hand closest to nine wins. 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. That is why the Ten, Jack, Queen and the King count 0 and the Ace only one. Unlike blackjack, but rather, like craps, multiple players around the table can bet on which hand will win. 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. The other is how drawing a third card is determined. Tabulating the hand value is straightforward and only takes simple mathematics of addition. All cards numbered 2 through 9 are worth their numeric value. In order to calculate a hand total, simply add the value of the two cards. 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. For instance, a hand of 5, Queen and 9 has a value of 4 (5 + 0 + 9 = 14 - 10 = 4) Card draw determination is slightly more involved and is often explained with a chart. The following guidelines determine what action the Bank Hand will take: On a side note, if the player hand does not draw a card, the banker hand will always draw if its value is lower than the player hand or if its own two-card value is 0, 1, or 2. The player's objective is to get a hand that is closer to 9 in value than the banker's. If the players cards total 15, 10 is subtracted and the value of the hand becomes 5. An ace counts as 1, two counts as 2, etc,, , up through nine counts as 9, but tens (jacks, queens and kings) count as 0. Baccarat rules state that winning banker bets are subject to a 5% house commission. So from reading this page you should have picked up enough about baccarat rules to play a game. 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. The game of baccarat is unlike most casino games as the is no level of skill involved the reason for this is that neither the player or dealer has any options or decisions to make during the course of the game. Each player takes it in turns to deal from the shoe there is however no advantage to be gained from it and it is just part of the tradition of the game. 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. The aim of the game is to get as close to 9 as possible and if you are nearer then you win. 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. All picture cards count as 10 and aces count as 1. If the dealer has 5 then he must draw if your card is a 4-5-6-7.

Tips

- The banker hand does carry with it a 5% vig, or commission, bringing the House Edge up to 2%. Since the house edge is relatively similar for both bets, it is presumptuous to entirely negate the player hand wager. As for the tie wager, it should be out of the question since it gives a casino advantage of nearly 15%.
- For an eight deck game, the casino advantage on the banker hand is 16%, whereas it is 15% in a six deck game. For the player and tie hands in an eight deck game, the edge is slightly better in the eight deck games.
- On the banker bet, the casino charges a vig, or commission to counter the players advantage. Usually this commission is 5%, which returns a House Edge of approximately 15%.
- Manage your money wisely, without a "system". As for other bankroll management strategies, a good one is posted on this website.

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