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Blackjack .:. Roulette .:. Slots .:. Craps .:. Baccarat .:. Poker .:.
Baccarat The game of baccarat you may have seen or heard about in American casinos actually is derived from a similar game called punto banco or chemin de fer. Baccarat sounds like it would be hard, especially since many high rollers have been known to drop a lot of money on the game. However, it is quite simple. If you can count to nine, you can play baccarat and there are only three basic types of bets to keep track of – player bets, banker bets and a tie.Baccarat Basics There are no really hard decisions to make and the betting is fairly simple. However, the rules are rather stringent. It is a game that many people can play at once only with the same hand. There are other versions of the game which use more than one hand, but for the sake of learning the basics, this one will have just the one. The ultimate goal in the card game of baccarat is to reach nine points with your hand.Card Values Each hand dealt will have no more than a total of three cards. No other cards shall be dealt during the hand. Each card in the deck has its own value. For instance, an ace, regardless of suit, is 1 point. All the numbered cards are worth their face value from 2 to 9. Face cards as well as tens are both 0 points.The value of a hand is determined at the end of each round. When your cards add up to more than 9, the first digit is dropped. When the cards go over 20, then 20 is subtracted from the overall sum and the remaining is your total. For instance, if the hand holds an 8 and a 9 for a total of 17, the first digit, a number one is dropped for a hand total of 7. If you played three cards in the hand, 6, 8, 9 for a total of 23, you would subtract 20 so the hand total would be 3. Playing the Game The table for baccarat looks similar to that of a craps table. It is long with the dealer in the middle overseeing the entire game and a dealer on each end of the table to manage the players. Up to 14 players can usually be at the table at a time. The main dealer will deal the cards with one hand for the bank (casino) and one for the player. (Remember, each person at the table does not get cards. They bet on the single player dealt hand.)Each person at the table puts their bet and chooses either the player hand or the banker hand. The odds are close to even in baccarat, although the banker (casino) will always have a slight edge. In some baccarat games, if you place a bet on a winning banker, you would have to pay a small commission to them. You could bet that both the player and banker hand will tie and this has odds of 8 to 1. Once the bets are made, the dealer will deal two cards for the banker (casino) and then the player gets two cards. When the banker or player's card total 9 or 8, they do not have the option of drawing another card and will stand by these totals. When the player has a total of 6 or 7, they would stand. During the player stand, the banker would be hit when the total of 5 or less. However if the total for the player was 5 or less, they would get an automatic hit, receiving a third card. Now, if the player ends up with a third card, then the banker must draw a third one too based on these criteria: when the banker hand is 2, 1, or 0; when the dealer has 3 and the third card drawn on the player was any number card except for 8; when the dealer has 4 and the third player card is 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7; when the dealer has 5 and the third player card is 4, 5, 6 or 7; when the dealer has 6 and the player's third card is a 6 or 7. Remember, if a dealer gets a 7, they usually stay. Then, once the cards are dealt, players and dealer determine who has the closest number to 9. The one closest to 9 wins and then a new hand is played. There is really no strategy to work on to improve odds because everyone is on an even playing ground. It takes some getting used to but with dealing just two to three cards, you can pick up baccarat rather quickly. |
