The basics
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
