Game Casinos Baccarat Casino

Baccarat History

The present form of Baccarat can be traced back to Italy. Targeted towards high rollers, Baccarat tables used to be exclusive territory with roped off access and dealers dressed in tuxedos.

How to Play Baccarat

There are three bets available: The Player’s hand, the Banker’s hand, or a Tie. A bet on the Banker pays even money minus a 5% house commission. Aces count as One and Two through Nine are counted at face value. In the classic game of Baccarat the deal rotates among the players. 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. And remained an exclusive game to the French nobility for some time before becoming a casino game. 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 basis of this game is very similar, but the rules and payoffs are much less dramatic. The Baccarat we know today originated in Great Britain and was then passed along to South America and finally to Nevada. In casinos based in the Portuguese territory of Macao, near Hong Kong, the popularity of baccarat is unrivaled. It is played by the exact same rules, but lacks the accoutrements of the formal version.

Baccarat Rules

Betting on Tie is not really recommended because it decreases your winning chances. Knowing the basic rules will help you understand what is going on on the baccarat table and will make the game more fun to play for you. So never mind what the other players bet on or how much they bet. At the beginning of the new game the shoe or the bank is given to the player on the right of the dealer. You can bet on a Tie where you get a one to eight payoff but a Tie is very rare, it occurs less than once in ten hands. At first the value of the cards might seem a little odd, but it's really simple to understand. That is why the Ten, Jack, Queen and the King count 0 and the Ace only one. This is not only the case with single card values but with the result of two cards combined. 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. Please note that both hands are allowed a maximum of one card draw. All other cards (tens and picture cards) are worth zero points. A hand of seven and four has a value of 1. For instance, a hand of 5, Queen and 9 has a value of 4 (5 + 0 + 9 = 14 - 10 = 4) Card draw determination is slightly more involved and is often explained with a chart. If one hand is an 8 and the other is a 9, the 9 wins. 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. Once the player hand is finished and standing, the bank hand will determine whether it must draw a third card. Banker shows a 7, 8 or 9 (8 and 9 win) Banker Hand must Stand. 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. The player's objective is to get a hand that is closer to 9 in value than the banker's. Both the banker and the player are dealt two cards, and depending on the value of the hand, might be dealt a third in either case. If the player or banker has a two card total of 8 or 9, he/she turns the cards over immediately. (In online baccarat cards are always face up) A 9 value wins over any lesser total, and if neither player has a 9 then 8 wins over any lesser total. With a total of 7, he stands. The advantage is slim, in the area 0,,8%, but in the world of gambling that's really not that small. 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. 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 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 1 then he must draw. If the dealer has 5 then he must draw if your card is a 4-5-6-7. If the dealer has 7 then he must stand. If the dealer has 9 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%. 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. As for the tie wager, it should be out of the question since it gives a casino advantage of nearly 15%.
- 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. 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.
- 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. Whatever you decide to follow, be sure you plan ahead of time.

Baccarat game for United Kingdom players: find tips for baccarat, strategies, terms, top baccarat casinos and other gambling information at Baccarat9 UK