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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

Baccarat is a very simple game to play with no decisions made after a bet is placed. The winning hand is the hand that holds two or three cards totaling closest to nine. Aces count as One and Two through Nine are counted at face value. A Tie at any point in the game ends the hand and pays Tie bets. If neither hand is 9 a hand with a total of 8 is a Natural winner. 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 was later on introduced in France around 1490 A. D. The basis of this game is very similar, but the rules and payoffs are much less dramatic. Although a few rules have been changed here and there to accomodate the individual taste of a certain country, the style has remained the same. The highest of the high rollers often come from overseas to try their hand under the chandeliers of the stylish Vegas baccarat rooms. The table is staffed by only one dealer who is responsible for handling the cards. The limits are lower and usually range from a $2 to $5 minimum, up to $500 maximum.

Baccarat Rules

The most important thing you need to know is whether you are betting on the Player, on the Bank or on Tie. At the beginning of the new game the shoe or the bank is given to the player on the right of the dealer. Before the cards are dealt each baccarat player has to make his bet. 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. If the hand you bet on wins you get a one to one payoff. 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. In Baccarat you always have to keep in mind that the fist digit in a two-digit number does not count. Unlike in Black Jack it is impossible to overdraw in Baccarat. Much like blackjack, two hands are played - a dealer and a player hand pitted against each other. After all bets are made, which cannot be added to or retracted once play begins, the House will deal four face-down cards - two cards each to both the player and banker (House) After the cards are finished being dealt, they are revealed and tabulated. The hand closest to a total value of nine wins. One factor is how hand values are tabulated. (7 + 4 = 11 - 10 = 1) A hand that has drawn and composed of three cards is calculated in the same fashion. 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. I will try to simplify this as much as possible with a few brief guidelines. If both hands have an 8 or 9, the game is deemed a tie, in which all Tie Bets win. 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. 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. If the players cards total 15, 10 is subtracted and the value of the hand becomes 5. 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. With a total of 7, he stands. This is of course because there is more of a chance for a banker win. So from reading this page you should have picked up enough about baccarat rules to play a game. 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. 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. Three dealers run the game and one of these is the caller who runs the game and stands between positions 1 and 15. The aim of the game is to get as close to 9 as possible and if you are nearer then you win. All picture cards count as 10 and aces count as 1. 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.

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 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.
- Many online casinos will offer different versions of baccarat, such as a one deck version, and a 6 or 8 deck version with higher minimum betting amounts. 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. sometimes casinos will only impose a 4% commission, which brings the House Edge on the banker bet down to only approximately %.
- Manage your money wisely, without a "system". Any system like the Martingale, which is designed to cover losses, should be avoided.

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