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Baccarat History

The game was introduced to the French Court in the 15th century and became the favorite game among French nobility. 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.

How to Play Baccarat

Baccarat is a very simple game to play with no decisions made after a bet is placed. 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. After players make their bets the dealer deals a two-card hand to the Banker and Player. The Player’s hand is dealt to first, and only if the current value is 5 or less. Chemin de fer is very similar to baccarat as it's played in American casinos today. The title of banker rotates around the table in a manner similar to the dice at a craps table. 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. There exists quite a diversity today, especially so since it has made its way onto the world wide web. 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 layout, conforms to the regular baccarat table and each of the seven seat positions correspond to a number and betting box with spots for banker, player, and tie.

Baccarat Rules

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. Baccarat is played with eight decks of cards without Jokers. Then he will take the very first card out and whatever the value of this card is indicates how many cards will be Burned. 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. 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. 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. After all is said and done, the hand with a point total closes to nine wins. Depending on hand outcomes, the player hand will either draw a third card or stand. The other is how drawing a third card is determined. 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. 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. Banker shows a 7, 8 or 9 (8 and 9 win) Banker Hand must Stand. Banker shows a 4 Banker Hand must Draw if player's draw card is a 0, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7 Banker Hand must Stand if player's draw card is a 0, 1, 8 or 9. After the dealer has finished drawing, the hands are added up and a winner is declared. The game is played modulo 10, that is if the total of the hand is greater than 10, then 10 is subtracted from the total.

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

. There are two hands dealt regardless of how many players there are: the banker's hand and the player's hand. 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. So from reading this page you should have picked up enough about baccarat rules to play a 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. 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 2 then he must draw. If the dealer has 4 then he must draw if your card is a 2-3-4-5-6-7. If the dealer has 7 then he must stand. Once all the hands are dealt it is closest to 9 that wins.

Tips

- When the wager is counter-weighed by the player hand, the edge lowers to more near the 1% mark. 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.
- Usually this commission is 5%, which returns a House Edge of approximately 15%. If you can get a 4% commission, by all means take advantage of it - and bet on the banker every time.
- Whatever you decide to follow, be sure you plan ahead of time. At the least, set yourself limits on losses and stake amounts.

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