Baccarat or Punto Banco is played on a table which is roughly the same size as a craps table with three casino dealers and anything up to 12 or 14 players.Although it can look confusing there are really just two principal bets which can be made: banker or player - Banco or Punto, plus the seldom used Standoff. You may find that a certain casino lets the players deal the cards in turn whilst others will have a casino dealer to deal the cards. However in online Baccarat the cards are always dealt automatically by a virtual dealer.Each player, including the player dealing, may bet on either ‘Bank’ or ‘Player’ but it’s tradition for the dealer to bet on ‘Bank’. Players can choose not to deal, passing the ‘Shoe’ on to the next player. The shoe will remain with a certain player as long as the ‘Bank’ continues to win. However if ‘Player’ wins, then the shoe is passed on to the next player.

To start off two hands are dealt and the players then bet which one they think will win, or that they will possibly tie. It is the same principle as betting on Black or Red at roulette, and the payoff is the same at even money, 1:1 (except for the standoff, which pays 8-1 or 9-1). There is however a difference in the two bets in that if ‘Bank’ as opposed to ‘Player’ wins then you will be charged a 5% commission, or tax, levied by the casino - this is their in-built advantage.

The ‘Bank’ is taxed in this way because it has been found that over an 8-deck game the ‘Bank’ will on average win three to four hands more than the ‘Player’.

Each hand dealt contains a minimum of two and a maximum of three cards each. The person dealing will put two of the cards face down, tucked under the shoe, and then give the player who placed the largest bet on ‘Player’ the two other cards, face down.

The person playing as ‘Player’ will then look at the cards he’s been dealt before returning them to the player who is dealing. Next the player with the ‘Shoe’ who is dealing will turn over the both hands cards while one of the casino dealers will announce the results and the winner.

A hand is called a ‘Natural’ if it has a total of 8 or 9 (nine is the highest possible), if this happens then no further cards are dealt. If a natural occurs, then the casino dealer may instruct the card dealer to deal a third card depending on the value of each hand dealt. There are a precise set of rules governing when to deal a third card, which is detailed below, this is consistent amongst all casinos.

Once the dealing is finished, the hand which has the highest count will win. The paying casino dealers will first collect the losing bets before paying out the winning bets. The player who was dealing out the cards is not responsible for the payouts, rather it is one of the Casino dealers. In fact the player who was dealing the cards is just a regular player who by tradition will have voted on the ‘Bank’ to win.

The rules
Baccarat is either played from a six or eight-deck shoe depending on the Casino. As opposed to most card games face cards and 10s don’t have any value in Baccarat. Cards with less than 10 are counted at face value whilst Aces are worth 1. The suit has no meaning in this game. The only valid values to be counted are single digit values, for this reason any count that reaches into double digits drops the left digit. Hence a total score of 15 is counted as 5 and 23 would be 3.

As mentioned before the game starts with the players betting on either ‘Bank’ or ‘Player’ or Standoff. The card dealer deals two cards, first to the player and then to the banker. The object of the game from the player point of view is to bet on the hand that will get the highest points total.

In certain circumstances a third card may be dealt to either or both the ‘Player’ and the ‘Bank’ based on the below three-card-rules. It really isn’t necessary to learn these rules as they are compulsory decisions controlled by the casino dealers and so there are no options from the player side:

Player’s third-card-rule

• If either the ‘Bank’ or ‘Player’ end up with a total of 8 or 9 on the first two cards then no further cards will be drawn. The resulting hand is referred to as a natural and the hand is over.
  If the ‘Player’s’ combined score is less than or equal to 5 the ‘Player’s’ hand will then draw a third card.
  If the ‘Player’ doesn’t draw a third card, then the ‘Bank’s’ hand will stand on 6 or more but will take a third card on a total of 5 or less. However if the ‘Player’ takes a third card then the ‘Bank’s’ third-card-rule below will determine if the ‘Bank’ then takes itself a third card.Bank’s third-card-rules
  If the ‘Bank’s’ total score is 2 or less then the ‘Bank’ will draw another card, irrespective of what the ‘Players’ third card is.
  If the ‘Banks’ total score is 3 then the bank will draw a third card unless the ‘Players’ third card was 8.
  If the ‘Banks’ total score is 4 then the bank will draw a third card unless the ‘Players’ third card was 0, 1, 8, or 9.
  If the ‘Banks’ total score is 5 then the bank will draw a third card if the ‘Players’ third card was 4, 5, 6, or 7.
  If the ‘Banks’ total score is 6 then the ‘Bank’ will draw a third card if the ‘Players’ third card was 6 or 7.
  If the ‘Banks’ total is 7 then the bank will stand.
  House advantage
  Banker (Banco) 1.17%
  Player (Punto) 1.36%
  Tie (Standoff) 14.12% at 8:1 payout.