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Baccarat History

The present form of Baccarat can be traced back to Italy. Mini Baccarat has the same rules as Baccarat but has lower stakes and is played on a standard Blackjack shaped table.

How to Play Baccarat

A bet on a Tie pays 8 to 1. After players make their bets the dealer deals a two-card hand to the Banker and Player. If neither hand is 9 a hand with a total of 8 is a Natural winner. Natural hands always immediately win or Tie (although a 9 beats an 8). If the Player did draw a third card, the Banker follows the rules at right. 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. 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. 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. It has kept it's elegant trait and is still one of the most appealing games to the well situated individuals in our society. A number of casinos have installed a smaller version of the baccarat game played on standard blackjack-sized gaming tables.

Baccarat Rules

Baccarat, pronounced "Bah-Caw-Rah", is probably one of the easiest and uncomplicated table games there is. So never mind what the other players bet on or how much they bet. Baccarat is played with eight decks of cards without Jokers. 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. When there is a Tie and you did not bet on it nobody looses or wins. So if you draw an eight in baccarat and a three, for instance, the value of both together would be eleven but since the first digit does not count your hand counts only one. Much like blackjack, two hands are played - a dealer and a player hand pitted against each other. 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. Depending on hand outcomes, the player hand will either draw a third card or stand. If both hands are the same, the game is deemed a tie. Please note that both hands are allowed a maximum of one card draw. 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. Banker shows a 5 Banker Hand must Draw if player's draw card is a 4, 5, 6, or 7 Banker Hand must Stand if player's draw card is a 0,1, 2, 3, 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. 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. If the players cards total 15, 10 is subtracted and the value of the hand becomes 5. The other must do so also. 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. 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. Dealers normally wear tuxedos and the surrounding are is quite lavish. 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. This means the game is quite simple especially as there are only three possible bets that can be made. 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. 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. If the dealer has 0 then he must draw. If the dealer has 3 then he must draw if your card is a 0-1-2-3-4-5-6-7-9.

Tips

- The banker hand does carry with it a 5% vig, or commission, bringing the House Edge up to 2%. When the wager is counter-weighed by the player hand, the edge lowers to more near the 1% mark. 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.
- 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.
- On the banker bet, the casino charges a vig, or commission to counter the players advantage. Any informed player would see that this bet is one of the best in the casino.
- Any system like the Martingale, which is designed to cover losses, should be avoided. If you want to take your chances, then by all means use a system - just know when to quit.

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