Baccarat

The game of Baccarat has enjoyed enormous popularity over the past century. It is said to have been brought to Europe from Macau around 1600, becoming hugely popular especially in France, where gambling in ‘betting houses’ had literally exploded.

Baccarat table with a croupier.

It is a similar but even simpler card game than blackjack. In basic baccarat the house is the dealer. Conversely, in the related game chemin de fer, or chemmy, the dealer switches from one player to the other. In Baccarat’s version ‘punto banco’ it seems to go from player to player, but is actually held by the house.

All the best casinos, both traditional and online, have this game. Because it’s easy, because it’s engaging. If you want to get an overview of authorized Italian online casinos, read our reviews and consider which casino bonuses you can take advantage of to start playing. With some bonuses you don’t even need to deposit !!!

Baccarat game: basic rules

This casino game features three or six 52-card decks shuffled together and distributed from a box of cards called a ‘shoe’. Players aim for a total count of nine, or as close as possible, in a hand of two or three cards.

Face cards and 10’s are counted as zero. All the others take their face value. The cards in each hand are added to get the value, but only the last digit is significant, because the tens are subtracted from the sum of the cards. Therefore, if the two cards in a hand are 8 and 5, the count is not 13 but 3. A competing hand with a face (zero) and a 6 wins because it is closer to the count of nine.

How to play Baccarat

Although it is played in two, baccarat involves a number of players that can vary up to 14 people, in fact people can bet even if they are not playing, just like blackjack.

You can therefore before the distribution, bet as follows:

  • On the player as the winner of the hand, saying ‘point’
  • The dealer winning the hand, saying ‘dealer’
  • Or on the tie of both, saying ‘tie’ or ‘égalité’

The banker deals two cards to the players and to himself, face down from the ‘shoe’. If someone has a count of eight or nine, a so-called ‘natural’, they turn the cards face up and win immediately, except when the dealer has a natural of the same count, in which case it is a tie and a new one is dealt. but no .

On a count of six or seven a player must ‘stand’, ie he does not take any cards. If he has less than five a player must request a third card, which is dealt face up. With exactly five a player can do either (but in most American casinos he has to draw).

Banker Specific Baccarat Game Rules

The banker must draw to a point below three, he must stand with a point above six. The rules are strict and are as follows for the dealer:

  • If the value is 5, the dealer draws a card if the player’s third card is a 4, 5, 6 or a 7;
  • If the value is 4, the dealer draws a card if the player’s third card is a 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or a 7;
  • If the value is 3, the dealer draws a card if the player’s third card is different from 8;
  • If the value is 2, 1 or 0, the dealer always draws another card.

After the dealer has made his move, the cards are shown and the player with the total value of the cards closest to 9 wins.

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As you can easily understand, once you have learned the rules, the game of Baccarat is really easy. There isn’t much to think about: luck is the real engine of matches.

In the non LIVE versions but with a game software, the same rules always apply: for example, how to win at slot machines thanks to random numbers is governed by the same game mechanics that you find in Baccarat. The casino cannot influence the choice of cards in any way, for the players’ peace of mind.

Good luck and have fun!