Baccarat Play For Fun

Baccarat History

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. More recently, a lot of US casinos have offered “Mini Baccarat”.

How to Play Baccarat

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. All Tens and face cards have a value of 0. In Mini Baccarat a casino dealer handles the deal. The Player’s hand is dealt to first, and only if the current value is 5 or less. It's been suggested that the game was first played with a deck of Tarot cards in the middle ages. The title of banker rotates around the table in a manner similar to the dice at a craps table. The basis of this game is very similar, but the rules and payoffs are much less dramatic. Although a few rules have been changed here and there to accomodate the individual taste of a certain country, the style has remained the same. 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, pronounced "Bah-Caw-Rah", is probably one of the easiest and uncomplicated table games there is. The most important thing you need to know is whether you are betting on the Player, on the Bank or on Tie. It doesn't matter which seat you take at the baccarat table because unlike in Black Jack you are not playing against other players or against the house. The only thing you are betting against is the cards. Then he will take the very first card out and whatever the value of this card is indicates how many cards will be Burned. Once the bank looses it moves on to the next player. You can bet on a Tie where you get a one to eight payoff but a Tie is very rare, it occurs less than once in ten hands. Much like blackjack, two hands are played - a dealer and a player hand pitted against each other. After all bets are made, which cannot be added to or retracted once play begins, the House will deal four face-down cards - two cards each to both the player and banker (House) After the cards are finished being dealt, they are revealed and tabulated. If both hands are the same, the game is deemed a tie. Two components of the game need clearing up at this point. All other cards (tens and picture cards) are worth zero points. 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. First off, know that right from the beginning a hand of 8 or 9 automatically wins. If one hand is an 8 and the other is a 9, the 9 wins. If such is not the case, the Player Hand makes the first move. Banker shows a 3 Banker Hand must Draw if player's draw card is a 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7 Banker Hand must Stand if player's draw card is an 8. The player's objective is to get a hand that is closer to 9 in value than the banker's. 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. 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. Tied 9s or tied 8s are a stand off; no money changes hands (unless ties can be bet on) If neither the player or the banker has a natural (a total of 8 or 9) then play goes to the player. 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. This means the game is quite simple especially as there are only three possible bets that can be made. 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. 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 4 then he must draw if your card is a 2-3-4-5-6-7. If the dealer has 5 then he must draw if your card is a 4-5-6-7. If the dealer has 6 then he must draw if your card is a 6-7. If the dealer has 9 then he must stand.

Tips

- The banker hand does carry with it a 5% vig, or commission, bringing the House Edge up to 2%. in the long run, a player should be making more bets on the banker than on the player.
- For an eight deck game, the casino advantage on the banker hand is 16%, whereas it is 15% in a six deck game. Although this difference is so negligible that most players do not advise picking one version of baccarat over the other, it is advisable to take all the advantage one can possibly take.
- sometimes casinos will only impose a 4% commission, which brings the House Edge on the banker bet down to only approximately %. If you can get a 4% commission, by all means take advantage of it - and bet on the banker every time.
- Any system like the Martingale, which is designed to cover losses, should be avoided. Unless you have a very hearty bankroll, and do not mind losing every bit of it, play with a money management system that does not try to chase after losses.

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