Baccarat is one of the many casino games available in today's casinos. The porpurse in the game is easy to understand: The players bet on one of two hands dealt on the table: either the "player" or the "banker". The hand that end up being closer to 9 wins.
It is believed to have been introduced into France from Italy during the reign of Charles VIII of France (ruled 1483-1498), and it is similar to Faro and to Basset. There are three accepted variants of the game: baccarat chemin de fer (railway), baccarat banque (or à deux tableaux), and punto banco (or North American baccarat).
Punto banco is strictly a game of chance, with no skill or strategy involved; each player's moves are forced by the cards the player is dealt. In baccarat chemin de fer and baccarat banque, by contrast, both players can make choices, which allows skill to play a large part.
In Baccarat, cards 2-9 are worth face value, 10's and face cards (J, Q, K) are worth zero, and Aces are worth 1 point. Players calculate their store by taking the sum of all cards modulo 10. Simply, when the total value of cards in a hand equals or exceeds 10, the tens digit is dropped.
Baccarat Hand values
The object of the game is to place a bet on the winning hand. Regardless of how many players are at the table, only two hands are dealt: one hand for the banker and another for the player.
hand values
All Tens and face cards (jack, queen, and king) are worth zero. The ace is worth "1" and the Two through Nine are worth their face value.
The total of the hand, regardless if it consist of two or three card, determined by summing up the values of the cards in the hand.
When the total of the hand is 10 or more, 10 must be subtracted. The remaining total is the card count.
For example, if the first two cards dealt are Jack and 4, the count is four. And 6, 2 and 6, although totaling 14 would count as 4 after subtracting the 10.
Firstly, both the banker and the player are dealt two cards, and depending on the value of the hands, might be dealt a third card in either case according to the Baccarat drawing rules.
Baccarat Drawing Rules
The highest total any baccarat hand can have is nine. A two-card total of nine is called a "natural" and cannot lose. An eight is the second-best hand and is also called a natural. If both player and bank are dealt identical hands, it is a standoff (a tie) and neither bank nor player wins.
The dealer gives two cards each to the player and the banker.
- If either the player or the banker has a total of an 8 or a 9 they both stand. There is no exceptions and this rule overrides all other rules.
- If the player has total of 6 or 7, the player stands.
- If the player stands, the banker hits on a total of 5 or less.
- If the player has total of 5 or less, the player automatically hits and the banker gives the player a third card.
If the player gets the third card then the banker draws a third card according to the following rules:
- Banker has total of 0, 1, 2: Banker always draws a third card.
- Banker has total of 3: Banker draws if Player's Third Card is 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-9-0 (not 8).
- Banker has total of 4: Banker draws if Player's Third Card is 2-3-4-5-6-7.
- Banker has total of 5: Banker draws if Player's Third Card is 4-5-6-7.
- Banker has total of 6: Banker draws if Player's Third Card is of 6-7.
- Banker has total of 7: Banker always stands.
Once the final cards are dealt, the score of the player and dealer are compared.The winning hand is the one with the greater total.
