Baccarat - Rules and How to Play

Baccarat is an easy game to play and get started with. Baccarat is the oldest of all games played in modern casinos. Records suggest the game may have been played as far back as the fifteenth century in France where it is sometime known as punto banco. When playing Baccarat you bet on which player has the highest card, yourself, or the dealer and thats all there is to it. You can win big without knowing a great deal about the game and the key to this is knowing when to increase your stake money. Baccarat is a card game played with a single deck of cards. The objective of the game is to predict which of the two hands (Banker or Player) that are about to be dealt will be closer to having a value of 9.

There are three different versions of bacarrat as listed below

Chemin de fer: This game is played in some European casinos, but is not played in the U.K. and North America. The aim of the game however is the same, that is to get as close to 9 as possible. But the rules allow a few conditions where drawing a card is optional. The casino doesn't play the role of banker, the players bet against each other, the players take turns being the banker-dealer (the option may be declined, and it then passes to the next player to the right) the house takes a standard cut out of the player banker's winning coup.

Baccarat: This game is the only game played in the U.K. and North America. The aim of this game is the same that is to get as close to 9 as possible, however the game is strictly mechanical with formal rules dictating every aspect of play. The house banks the game, thus the bets can be much larger than when another player is acting as the bank, also with the house assuming the role of banker the game can be played with as few as one player (in chemin de fer you have to wait for additional players before the game can start).

Mini-baccarat: This a new version of the game. The game is played at a blackjack sized table with up to seven players. The rules are the same as for the full version of baccarat, however to speed up the game the players don't touch the cards they are dealt by the casino dealer. The stakes are much lower for this game than the full version, this plus the less formal atmosphere make this version appeal to many players.

Different casinos paly the game using different rules but for the examples we show below these are based on Atlantic City Gaming rules which are used by William Hill and we have used William Hill Baccarat rules in the examples below.

Baccarat - How to play

In baccarat there are two hands dealt - the banker's hand and the player's hand. Before each deal, the player wagers on whether the Player's hand or the Banker's hand is closest to a total of 9. The player also has the option to wager on a tie (i.e. both the banker's and player's hands total the same).

When you are ready to play you will find your chips stacked by denomination (£1, £5, £25, £100, £500) or in US$ OR Euro's at the bottom of the screen. You then select the amount that you would like to wager on a given hand.

After the Deal button is pressed, the Player and Banker are dealt two cards. All tens and picture cards are worth zero, aces are worth 1, and all other cards are worth their face value. If the value of cards exceeds 9, then the value is adjusted by subtracting 10 from the total.

Example :

After the first two cards are dealt to both the Player and Dealer, a third additional card may be dealt but the player does not ask for a third card. All additional cards are subject to a third card rule. No hand receives more than three cards. When the Player and Banker hands equal the same total, the hand is declared a Tie.

Third Card Rules :
If the Player's two cards total :

After the Player's Hand acts on a third card draw, the Banker's Hand receives a third card according to these rules :

When the Banker's two cards total between 3-6 :

If the Player's hand stands on two cards, then a two card Banker hand totalling 3,4,5 must draw and a Banker hand totalling 6 must stand.

Payout

A winning Player hand wager is paid at 1 to 1. A winning Banker hand wager is also paid at 1 to 1 but the player must pay a 5% commission to the bank. Winning Tie wagers are paid at 8 to 1.