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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

All Tens and face cards have a value of 0. Even though the player dealing is acting as the Banker, he is not obligated to bet on the Banker’s hand. In Mini Baccarat a casino dealer handles the deal. A Tie at any point in the game ends the hand and pays Tie bets. The Player’s hand is dealt to first, and only if the current value is 5 or less. There are many debates pertaining to the history of baccarat, particularly where the game was invented: France or Italy. 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. 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. 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. The Baccarat we know today originated in Great Britain and was then passed along to South America and finally to Nevada. Unlike the heavily ordered and systematic American casinos, these Portuguese tables often allow multiple players to bet on a single spot at the same time, while the expert dealers mentally keep track of each players commission on winning bank bets. 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. So never mind what the other players bet on or how much they bet. Baccarat is played with eight decks of cards without Jokers. The baccarat game is now ready to play. 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. The player with the bank deals two sets of two cards, if of course the game is played by two players. In Baccarat you always have to keep in mind that the fist digit in a two-digit number does not count. Depending on hand outcomes, the player hand will either draw a third card or stand. Two components of the game need clearing up at this point. 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. If this sum goes over ten, subtract ten and you will have the final value. A hand of seven and four has a value of 1. (7 + 4 = 11 - 10 = 1) A hand that has drawn and composed of three cards is calculated in the same fashion. First off, know that right from the beginning a hand of 8 or 9 automatically wins. 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 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. 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). 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. There are two hands dealt regardless of how many players there are: the banker's hand and the player's hand. 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. Baccarat rules state that winning banker bets are subject to a 5% house commission. Baccarat has a reputation for being a high rollers game and the tables are normally separate from the rest of the casino in there own section called the pit. 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. 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. 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 3 then he must draw if your card is a 0-1-2-3-4-5-6-7-9. If the dealer has 8 then he must stand. If the dealer has 9 then he must stand.

Tips

- Bet on the Banker Hand most of the time. This tip is not to say that a player should never bet on the player hand, for sometimes a hunch can be the best thing going for a gambler. 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.
- Looking at the House Edge, it is lowered, albeit not substantially, for every deck taken out of the equation. 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. On the banker bet, the casino charges a vig, or commission to counter the players advantage.
- 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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