Baccarat

Baccarat is found in most casinos both land-based & in UK online casinos. The game got it’s name from the Italian word Baccara with French spelling this makes it how we know it today, Baccarat! Baccarat was first seen in 1490, but made it’s debut in Las Vegas & other casinos in 1959. Of course, Baccarat was also played underground & in illegal casinos all over the world. Baccarat came from the game chemin de fer which is very similar the main difference is instead of betting against the casino, players were betting against themselves. Chemin de fer was introduced to casinos in the 1950’s but had a short life span and was replaced by Baccarat. Baccarat offers it’s players the smallest house advantage of any casino game with just a 1.17% house advantage. Baccarat is a game where you can be very successful without a strategy, ever moreso over Blackjack or Video Poker players.

How Baccarat is played

So to start playing Baccarat it is important to know what the table layout is all about. around the outer edge of the table there are slots numbered 1-15 so this means, 14 players are able to play at once of course, like with most casinos the superstitious number 13 is no longer used on tables so that number is skipped. The dealer stands in the middle of course. Some casinos offer a mini version of Baccarat this accommodates 7 players usually the High Roller tables are in a section away from the regular gaming floor and will accommodate 14 players.

Before any cards are dealt the players will place their bets this is when the players make a guess as far as who will win the player, or the banker. The winner is determined when one, either the banker or the player reach closest to 9. Card values are similar to Blackjack, numbered cards are taken at face value and face cards, jack queen & king are counted at 10 points each. and Aces are counted as 1 point. Now, it seems kind of impossible to reach 9 with card values so high so what happens is if you reach a sum of 10 or more, you’ll drop the first digit and play the second one, so if you receive a sum of 18 your play will then just become an 8. Some casinos have different rules on Baccarat as well as UK online casinos so it is very important that you know the rules. If you plan to play online you can play for free just to get the hang of the game before wagering any money on it.

The banker and the player will draw two cards each, if either the banker or the player draw and 8 or a 9 they both stand. When the player totals a 6 or 7 the player will stand when this happens, the banker will hit on a total of 5 or less. If the player has a total of 5 or less.. the player will hit and they will receive a 3rd card. In some cases the banker will also draw a third card like when the bankers hand totals 0,1, or a 2. If the banker totals a 3 or if the players third card is anything between a 1 & 0 with the exception of an 8 card. The banker will also draw if they total a 4 and the and if the players 3rd card is a 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. If the Banker totals a 5 & the player’s third card is a 4, 5, 6, or a 7. If the banker has 6 and the player draws his third and it’s a 6 or 7 and if the banker has a 7 he will stand. So after all of this, once all of the cards a death & every hits or stands the closest to 9 wins!