Baccarat Rules Casino Software

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

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. Aces count as One and Two through Nine are counted at face value. Even though the player dealing is acting as the Banker, he is not obligated to bet on the Banker’s hand. If either hand dealt is a total of 9, it is called a “Natural” and automatically wins. It's been suggested that the game was first played with a deck of Tarot cards in the middle ages. It was later on introduced in France around 1490 A. Chemin de fer is very similar to baccarat as it's played in American casinos today. The difference is one of the players banks the game instead of the casino. The title of banker rotates around the table in a manner similar to the dice at a craps table. Falguiere based the game on an old Etruscan ritual of the nine gods, who prayed to a blonde virgin on their tiptoes waiting for her to throw a nine-sided die. The infamous Dunes casino introduced baccarat in the late 50's. 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.

Baccarat Rules

Betting on Tie is not really recommended because it decreases your winning chances. Baccarat is a game of chance, all you have to decide is which hand you think will win. 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. 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. The player with the bank deals two sets of two cards, if of course the game is played by two players. That is why the Ten, Jack, Queen and the King count 0 and the Ace only one. The game begins with players placing bets. 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. 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 hand closest to a total value of nine wins. Tabulating the hand value is straightforward and only takes simple mathematics of addition. All cards numbered 2 through 9 are worth their numeric value. If such is not the case, the Player Hand makes the first move. Player shows a 6, 7, 8, or 9 (8 and 9 win) Player Hand must Stand. Banker shows a 4 Banker Hand must Draw if player's draw card is a 0, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7 Banker Hand must Stand if player's draw card is a 0, 1, 8 or 9. 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. 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. 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 7, he stands. 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. It may still be a good idea to try it online first, and within minutes you'll feel comfortable enough to play anywhere. The table layout is quite simple and consists of fourteen numbered positions seven on each side of the dealer; the number thirteen is omitted as it is considered unlucky. The aim of the game is to get as close to 9 as possible and if you are nearer then you win. All picture cards count as 10 and aces count as 1. Player and dealer are both dealt two cards to start with, if either of them has a two card total of 8 or 9 then they must immediately turn over the cards. 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. Once all the hands are dealt it is closest to 9 that wins.

Tips

- in the long run, a player should be making more bets on the banker than on the player. 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.
- 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. A slight difference of only one hundredth of a percent shows, which is apparent when looking at the House Edge.
- Play Baccarat at Casinos with the lowest commission possible. Usually this commission is 5%, which returns a House Edge of approximately 15%.
- Any system like the Martingale, which is designed to cover losses, should be avoided. As for other bankroll management strategies, a good one is posted on this website.

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