Baccarat

Baccarat is a gambling card game. It is supposed to have been introduced into France from Italy during the reign of Charles VIII of France (ruled 1483-1498). There are three accepted variants of the game: baccarat chemin de fer (railway), baccarat banque (or a deux tableaux), and punto banco (or North American baccarat).

Baccarat (pronounced Back-a-rah) is a simple game with only three possible results - 'Player', 'Banker' and 'Tie'. The term 'Player' does not refer to the customer and the term 'Banker' does not refer to the house. They are just options on which the customer can bet.

Baccarat is an unusual game in that any score of 10 is worth 0 (or 'Baccarat'). The highest score that can be achieved is 9. Two picture cards would have a score of 0. A 9 and a 6 would not equal 15 but 5. (Minus the first digit) An ace counts as 1 and the rest of the cards retain their face value.

Baccarat is one of the most simple games to master and its also lots of fun. Despite its simplicity it is widely regarded as an incredibly sophisticasted. Its immense popularity with players is due to the very low house edge.

In Baccarat, two hands are dealt – the ‘Bankers' Hand and the ‘Player's' hand. The object of the game is to bet on which hand you think will be closer to 9. The hand which comes closer to 9 wins. The Player also has the option of betting on a ‘tie'.

Two card are dealt for each hand, picture cards are worth 0, aces are worth 1 and all other cards are worth their face value. If the value of the hand is more than 9, then you just subtract 10 from the total. For example, if a hand is worth 17 then the final value would be 7.

After the initial two cards are dealt, a third card can be dealt. No hand receives more that 3 cards. The Third Card Rule is as follows:-

If the Player's hand totals 0 –5, then the player must draw another card

If the Player's hand totals 6-7, then the player must stand

If the Player's hand totals 8 or 9 (a ‘natural'), then no more cards are dealt.

If the Player's hand acts on a Third Card Rule then the Banker's Hand must recive a third card as follows:-

If the Banker's Hand totals 0-2, the Bnaker must draw

If the Banker's Hand totals 3-6, then the Player's Third Card determines whether he draws or stands

If the Banker's Hand totals 7-9, the Banker must stand.

The rules of the game may seem confusing at first but all you need to do is to decide which hand will value closer to 9.

Casinos like to give Baccarat a feeling of sophistication and glamour and although this may seem intimidating at first, after playing you will find that this is really one of the easiest games to play. And you will also enjoy playing a game with one of the lowest house edges around.