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. Targeted towards high rollers, Baccarat tables used to be exclusive territory with roped off access and dealers dressed in tuxedos.

How to Play Baccarat

A bet on a Tie pays 8 to 1. A Tie at any point in the game ends the hand and pays Tie bets. Natural hands always immediately win or Tie (although a 9 beats an 8). The Player’s hand is dealt to first, and only if the current value is 5 or less. 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. There are many debates pertaining to the history of baccarat, particularly where the game was invented: France or Italy. And remained an exclusive game to the French nobility for some time before becoming a casino game. Eventually, baccarat evolved into European baccarat and the French game 'chemin de fer'. The title of banker rotates around the table in a manner similar to the dice at a craps table. The interesting bit to observe of course is that the casino is taking no risk here; they simply charge a fee from each banker. If an eight or a nine was thrown, she would become the priestess; if she threw a six or seven, she would be banned from any further religious activities; if she threw any number less than six, she would walk into the sea. There exists quite a diversity today, especially so since it has made its way onto the world wide web. The table is staffed by only one dealer who is responsible for handling the cards.

Baccarat Rules

Baccarat is played with eight decks of cards without Jokers. If the value of the first card is a four, for instance, the dealer will take the next four cards out of the shoe and discard them in a tray next to it along with the first card. 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. The player with the bank deals two sets of two cards, if of course the game is played by two players. The hand closest to nine wins. In Baccarat you always have to keep in mind that the fist digit in a two-digit number does not count. Much like blackjack, two hands are played - a dealer and a player hand pitted against each other. After all is said and done, the hand with a point total closes to nine wins. After the players turn, and depending on both the outcome of the players hand and its own, the dealer hand will either draw a third additional card or stand. One factor is how hand values are tabulated. All other cards (tens and picture cards) are worth zero points. A hand of seven and four has a value of 1. First off, know that right from the beginning a hand of 8 or 9 automatically wins. If one hand is an 8 and the other is a 9, the 9 wins. Once the player hand is finished and standing, the bank hand will determine whether it must draw a third card. 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). There are two hands dealt regardless of how many players there are: the banker's hand and the player's hand. The task for you as a player is to bet on the banker's hand, the player's hand, or a draw, which means that the two hands are tied. Although the payoff for winning a draw bet is much more appealing, the chances of actually getting it are pretty low. 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. 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. 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. All picture cards count as 10 and aces count as 1. If either you or the dealer has a 6 or 7 then you must stand if you stand on a 6 or 7 then the dealer must hit on a score of less than 5. If the dealer has 5 then he must draw if your card is a 4-5-6-7.

Tips

- 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. As for the tie wager, it should be out of the question since it gives a casino advantage of nearly 15%.
- A slight difference of only one hundredth of a percent shows, which is apparent when looking at the House Edge. For an eight deck game, the casino advantage on the banker hand is 16%, whereas it is 15% in a six deck game. 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. If you can get a 4% commission, by all means take advantage of it - and bet on the banker every time.
- Any system like the Martingale, which is designed to cover losses, should be avoided. As for other bankroll management strategies, a good one is posted on this website.

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