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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
A bet
on the Player pays even money. A bet on the Banker pays even money
minus a 5% house commission. In
the classic game of Baccarat the deal rotates among the players. Natural hands always immediately win or Tie (although a 9 beats an
8). 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. It was later on introduced in France around 1490 A. D. Eventually,
baccarat evolved into European baccarat and the French game 'chemin de fer'. In casinos based in the Portuguese territory of Macao, near Hong Kong, the popularity of baccarat is unrivaled. A number of casinos have installed a smaller version of the baccarat game played on standard blackjack-sized gaming tables. It is played by the exact same rules, but lacks the accoutrements of the formal version.
Baccarat Rules
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. At the
beginning of a new game or when the Cut Card in the Shoe is dealt, the dealer will shuffle all decks together and put them back in the
shoe, called "The Bank". Then he will take the very first card
out and whatever the value of this card is indicates how many cards will
be Burned. 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. When nobody has a natural additional
cards are drawn to determine the baccarat winner. Unlike in Black
Jack it is impossible to overdraw in Baccarat. 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. a baccarat hand will never exceed
three cards total. Tabulating the hand value is straightforward
and only takes simple mathematics of addition. In order to calculate a hand
total, simply add the value of the two cards. I will try to simplify this as much as possible with a
few brief guidelines. First off, know that right from
the beginning a hand of 8 or 9 automatically wins. Once the player hand is finished and
standing, the bank hand will determine whether it must
draw a third card. 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. 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. (Thus the value of a hand is always between 0 through 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.
- The maximum number of cards in a baccarat hand is three,,
- If the banker or the player has an eight (natural eight) or a nine (natural nine) on the first two cards dealt, no further cards are
drawn,,
- The player always draws when the hand is a five or less, unless the banker has a natural, and stands on a six and
seven,,
- the banker always stands if the player stands on a six or a seven
. 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. If the player or banker has a two card total of 8 or 9, he/she turns the cards over immediately. 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. 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. 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. 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 6 then he must draw if your card is a 6-7. If the dealer has 9 then he must stand.
Tips
- Bet on the Banker Hand most of the time. 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. When more 4's are leaving the deck, the banker bet has slightly better odds, whereas when 6's leave the deck, the player bet has a slightly better chance of winning than it does from the start of a fresh deck.
- Play Baccarat Games with the fewest decks. 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.
- sometimes casinos will only impose a 4% commission, which brings the House Edge on the banker bet down to only approximately %. 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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