Baccarat is a casino card game that is very popular among high rollers and whales in the casino. This game is usually played in a separate room both for privacy and for protection of the wagers.
However, because of the advent of online gaming even leisure players are now able to play Baccarat. Other than the three different variants of Baccarat such as Chemin de Fer, Punto Banco and Baccarat Banque, there is now that new variant mini-Baccarat.
Mini-Baccarat has lower betting requirements and fewer players. The game follows the same rules of Baccarat but reachable to leisure players and thus Baccarat can now be played by leisure players and not just high rollers.
Rules of Baccarat
1. Card values in Baccarat are different as compared to other table games. In this game, card values 1-9 are accepted in their face value. However, 10, J, Q and K are of zero value. Thus, if you have a 5 and a 6 card, the valuation of your hand is only 1, this is 5 + 6 = 11 – 10 = 1.
2. There are three bets in Baccarat. The banker bet is a bet that the banker card is going to be higher. The player bet is a bet that the player card is going to win. The third is the tie bet, you are betting that the cards of the player and the banker will be of the same value.
The odds in each of these bets are different as well. The banker bet has a house edge of 1.06%. The player bet has a house edge of 1.24% but the tie bet with a payout of 8:1 has a house edge of 14.12%. Player and banker bet pays 1:1.
3. There can be up to ten players in a Baccarat table but there are only 4 cards to be dealt in each round. After the cards are dealt, players can now bet on the winning card.
4. The banker position moves to the next player if the next player has enough money to cover the funds of the players on the table. Likewise, the banker position do not move if the result of the preceding game is a tie.
Game Play
1. The first to register for the game usually will become the banker. He may refuse if he does not have enough funds and the next player will have the option to seat at the banker side.
2. The assigned banker will seat in the middle of an oval table. The croupier will seat opposite the banker. Players will seat on either side of the banker. The discard basket will be placed in the middle of the banker and the croupier.
3. Some players who want to take part in the betting can stand on either side of the banker and they can place their bets as well.
4. There are usually about 3 to 6 decks of cards being used in a Baccarat game. These cards will be shuffled by the croupier, then, the players and the last to shuffle the cards will be the banker.
5. The banker will then draw four facedown cards from the deck. Two cards to the player and two cards to the banker.
6. The players will now place their bets, either banker bet, player bet or tie bet.
7. If the player’s card is an 8 or 9, it is a natural and therefore the play stops here. The player exposes their cards and whichever is the winning natural card wins the game. If the player’s card total is a 6 to a 7, he will stand and expose his card. If his card is 0 to 5, the player has the option to get a third card to improve his hand.
8. If the banker holds a 7 to higher, he stands. If he has a six and the player has a 6 or a 7, the banker still gets additional card. If the banker hand is 0-5, he gets a card especially if the third card of the player is higher than his.
9. After this, the card that has the highest value wins the game and the next hand is dealt.
