Baccarat Rules Casinos Games

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. Targeted towards high rollers, Baccarat tables used to be exclusive territory with roped off access and dealers dressed in tuxedos.

How to Play Baccarat

In Mini Baccarat a casino dealer handles the deal. After players make their bets the dealer deals a two-card hand to the Banker and Player. If neither hand is an 8 or a 9 and there is no Tie additional cards may be dealt according to a standard set of rules. 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. If the Player did draw a third card, the Banker follows the rules at right. 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 interesting bit to observe of course is that the casino is taking no risk here; they simply charge a fee from each banker. 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 result of the die decided her fate. The infamous Dunes casino introduced baccarat in the late 50's. The limits are lower and usually range from a $2 to $5 minimum, up to $500 maximum.

Baccarat Rules

Betting on Tie is not really recommended because it decreases your winning chances. At the beginning of the new game the shoe or the bank is given to the player on the right of the dealer. Each player is given the bank in turn and can hold the bank as long as the bank wins. Once the bank looses it moves on to the next player. The player with the bank deals two sets of two cards, if of course the game is played by two players. The hand closest to nine wins. 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. When there is a Tie and you did not bet on it nobody looses or wins. Essentially, only three bets can potentially be made - A bet for the player's hand to win, the banker's hand to win, or a tie. 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. If both hands are the same, the game is deemed a tie. Two components of the game need clearing up at this point. One factor is how hand values are tabulated. First off, know that right from the beginning a hand of 8 or 9 automatically wins. If such is not the case, the Player Hand makes the first move. 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. 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. Winning bets on the player hand pay back 1 to 1, while winning bets on the banker hand do the same, but with a 5% vig (commission) winning tie bets pay back 9 to 1. The player's objective is to get a hand that is closer to 9 in value than the banker's. (Thus the value of a hand is always between 0 through 9). 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. This is of course because there is more of a chance for a banker win. The advantage is slim, in the area 0,,8%, but in the world of gambling that's really not that small. 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. 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. All picture cards count as 10 and aces count as 1. 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 4 then he must draw if your card is a 2-3-4-5-6-7. If the dealer has 7 then he must stand.

Tips

- Depending on the number of decks being played, the casino advantage for the player hand wager is generally 15%, whereas on the banker hand it is only 16%. 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%.
- A baccarat game using eight decks will deliver a probability of 456% of winning on the bank hand, 442% of winning on the player hand, and 92% of winning on a Tie. A slight difference of only one hundredth of a percent shows, which is apparent when looking at the House Edge. 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.
- Usually this commission is 5%, which returns a House Edge of approximately 15%. Any informed player would see that this bet is one of the best in the casino.
- As for other bankroll management strategies, a good one is posted on this website. Whatever you decide to follow, be sure you plan ahead of time.

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