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Baccarat is one of the most popular card games in the US and around the world. Practiced in the first casinos in Nevada as early as the 1930s, the baccarat game has the advantage of offering an easy to understand and masterable operation in just a few minutes. This the best time to learn how to play baccarat.
The ease of this game is probably one of the reasons for its notoriety and the growing number of players who play it both in Europe and across the world in general. Our site expert in online casino games rules now gives you the essential elements to know about each baccarat rule!
Baccarat is hands down the simplest casino game there is. Once your bets are placed, the distribution of cards follows a rigorous procedure. The course of the baccarat is done automatically, giving you time to go and sip a little cocktail between two phases of the game.
However, it is still better to inquire about the rules to understand how to play baccarat and what is happening before your eyes. Before you start a game of baccarat, take the time to read this article carefully.
In baccarat, the croupier uses between six and eight decks of cards arranged in a shoe. The object of the game is to make a correct prognosis by betting on the player’s victory, the bank victory, or even on a “player and bank equality”.
The dealer will therefore not deal cards to all players, unlike blackjack, but only to the bank, and to a fictitious player. The hand with the sum closest to 9 wins the game. Let’s take a closer look at the rules and how to play baccarat in order to be able to master the games perfectly.
the baccarat is played on a table that can accommodate up to 14 players. Player locations are marked with numbers ranging from 1 to 15. By superstition, the number 13 does not appear. In front of each number, there are three separate boxes.
Each player is brought to deposit his chips there to bet on his own victory, on the dealer, or on a tie. Usually, baccarat is played with 6, 8, or 9 decks of cards. The cards are shuffled after each round.
As for mini-baccarat, it is played on a table twice as small and can only accommodate 7 players.
The object of the game is to get 9 points or get as close to them as possible. You won’t be strained as the rules of the game are predetermined, leaving you with little decision-making power. All you have to do is bet on the player (punto), the dealer (banco), or a tie. As soon as you have placed your bets, the dealer deals the cards. From that moment on, you won’t have to make any more decisions.
As with all card games, a particular value has been assigned to each element of the baccarat deck. You won’t be able to complete your games without mastering this data at your fingertips. As you will see, however, the calculation will be very simple to perform:
Now, how to play baccarat? let’s get to the heart of the matter concerning casino games rules, observing from A to Z how a game is conducted, and what are the different stages that make up the game.
| Bank | Player’s third card | ||||||||||
| NOT | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | |
| 9 | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| 8 | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| 7 | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| 6 | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | O | O | X | X |
| 5 | O | X | X | X | X | O | O | O | O | X | X |
| 4 | O | X | X | O | O | O | O | O | O | X | X |
| 3 | O | O | O | O | O | O | O | O | O | X | O |
| 2 | O | O | O | O | O | O | O | O | O | O | O |
| 1 | O | O | O | O | O | O | O | O | O | O | O |
| 0 | O | O | O | O | O | O | O | O | O | O | O |
You know what each bank player’s card is worth, and how the game is going, from the previous two paragraphs. Let us understand how to play baccarat and see in more detail the specificity of the baccarat rules of the game in terms of the addition of points, and the consequences of the various results obtained.
When a hand exceeds the value of 10, you can reduce that value in two ways: by subtracting the value of the hand by 10 or by removing the first digit of that value, which is like keeping only the ones digit.
A hand that has a 6 of clubs and a 6 of diamonds has a total value of 12. To reduce it, you can deduct 10 from 12, or simply remove the first number from that value. So you get a new value of 2.
Depending on the score obtained in the previous step, the baccarat rule recommends that the croupier makes one more draw as follows:
Please note, the third card baccarat rule does not necessarily apply to all variants. The punto banco rules, for example, do not provide for a compulsory draw when the player obtains 5 points. The rules of punto banco will however be explained in detail in our article dedicated to the different versions of the game, and how to play baccarat variations.
As you can probably imagine, each type of bet will offer you a different return on investment, depending on the risk taken and the commissions applied. Here is what each of the three outcomes of the game can bring you:
You place your chips in one of the boxes located in front of your number. You have the option of betting on your own win, the dealer’s win, or a tie. No cards will be dealt until bets have been placed. During the first phase of play, players will be dealt with two open cards from the dealer. Thereafter, it is up to the dealer himself to self-deal two cards. In online baccarat, the value of hands will be counted automatically. In fact, this is all you have to memorize in order to understand how to play baccarat.
If the player or dealer has a hand of 8 or 9 points, it is a natural hand. Whoever has the hand closest to 9 (or ideally a hand of 9 points) wins the round. You will receive winnings based on the bets you have placed. If the player and the croupier have the same number of points, the bets placed on the tie will win. If no game has cleared a natural hand and no tie could be established, the value of the player’s hand will determine the next step:
Learn how to play baccarat on video
Unlike blackjack, you are not playing ‘against’ the dealer. You will have to bet on your victory, on the croupier victory, or on a tie. In fact, when you learn how to play baccarat, all you have to remember is the betting options:
The first option is to bet on your own victory. In doing so, you assume that you will have the best hand at the end of the game. This type of bet is also called ‘punto’. If successful, the player is paid at odds of 1 to 1. The house profit margin is set at 1.36%.
You are also free to place your bet in favor of a win by the dealer (banco). Because of its house advantage established at only 1.17%, it is also the most profitable bet there is! Since the bets placed on the dealer are generally more successful than those placed on the player, the house allows itself to take a commission of 5%. Indeed, the croupier will win on average 3 or 4 times more than the player during a baccarat game with 8 decks of cards.
You also have the option of placing your bets on a tie if you have a hunch that you are going to end the round on the same number of points as the dealer. This type of bet is paid at odds of 8 to 1 due to the rarity of the situation. This makes it a particularly alluring bet for players in search of an elephantine payout. However, this type of bet gives the house a 14.2% advantage!
If you are going to a casino for the purpose of playing baccarat, you should be aware of the official decorum. Indeed, in the most routine casinos, it is not uncommon to see millions of euros coming and going on the tables in the space of a few hours.
To meet the expectations of well-to-do players, some of the traditional rules have been altered, particularly with regard to mandatory minimum bets. In addition, the dress code is much more rigorous.
Around the tables, you will usually see three members of the casino who will supervise the games: two croupiers and a ‘callman’. The cards are dealt with by the player who holds the shoe and is turned over by the callman. The shoe circulates from player to player over the innings.
On the baccarat tables of smaller casinos, the minimum mandatory bets are more modest. Mini-baccarat is particularly popular for its minimalist structure and more moderate bets. In addition, there will be only one croupier at the table who will deal with dealing the cards, counting the points, and managing the bets.
Although baccarat is a game of childish simplicity (once your bets are placed, the game takes place on its own), it is best to have a good knowledge of how to play baccarat, the rules, basic strategy, and associated terms. in baccarat. Playing in an online casino will remove the obstacles and other inconveniences that you might find in a land-based casino.
After you learned how to play baccarat, online, you will be able to place mandatory minimum bets of lesser value and will not need to purchase an Armani costume to join the game. Choose one of the virtual casinos from our list and it’s up to you!
