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Baccarat
Baccarat is a card game often played in casinos. It is one of the
most glamorous of the casino card games played by the most fancy
casino regulars. Even James Bond plays Baccarat. You'll find that it
is a high-class society game, with royalty often playing. This makes
sense since it is said that it originated in France during the reign
of Charles VIII back in the 1400s.
Baccarat is a simple game and a game of pure chance. Players require no skill or strategy at all. The game depends solely on the cards a player is dealt. Moreover, there are only three possible outcomes in the game of Baccarat. These outcomes are called, Player, Banker, or Tie. These are simply the terms used that represent the options a player has on which to place a bet.
How to Play Baccarat
The objective of Baccarat is one and it is a simple. You simply hope to draw a two-card hand or a three-card hand that adds up to a total that is closer to the number 9 than the banker. In Baccarat, the cards 10, J, Q, and K are counted as 0. Aces are counted as a 1, while all the other cards are counted according to their face value.
If, in adding up your total, you get a result that is more than the number 10, you must drop the ten. In Baccarat there is no “bust” hand, as there is with other games. So if you get a 7 and 9, which makes a total of 16, you drop ten and you end up with a total of 6. It's really that simple to play Baccarat.
In fact, it is because Baccarat is so simple that it is such a popular game. While a player cannot control the draw of the cards and cannot resort to some strategy to put the cards to best use, what the player must focus on is how to make the best bet. After that, a player's luck lies solely in the hands of the dealer, who shuffles and deals the cards, and pays out at the end of each game. Learn more about Baccarat Rules.
Baccarat Betting Tips
There are three types of Baccarat bets. You can place a bet on your own hand, or the banker's, on on a tie. These bets are explained below:
- The Player bet: in the Player bet you bet on your own hand. If you do that there is a house edge of 1.24%.
- The Banker's bet: here you bet on the Banker's hand. If you do that there is a house edge of 0.6% if there's a 4% house cut, or 1.06% if their is a 5% house cut.
- The Tie bet: with the tie bet you bet on a tie. This is the riskiest of all the bets and depends on the house edge, which ranges from about 5% edge to 14+%. Most experts will tell you to forget the tie bet.
Particular Rules
In the game of Baccarat, the banker and the player draw two cards each. If either the banker or the play reach a total result of 8 or 9, both stand. If the player's total is 6 or 7, the player stands. If this happens, then the banker hits if the total is less than 5. Now, if a player's total is less than 5, the player hits and receives a third card from the banker.
If the player's total is 5 or less, the player automatically hits and the banker gives the player a third card. Following that, the banker must also draw a third. This occurs according to the following rules:
- If a banker's hand totals 0, 1, or 2 then the banker always draws a third card.
- If a banker's hand totals 3, then the banker only draws if the player's third card is a number from 1 through to 0, but not 8.
- If a banker's hand totals 4, the banker draws a third card if the player's third card is a number from 2 through to 7.
- If a banker's hand totals 5, the banker draws if the player's third card is a 4 through to 7.
- If a banker's hand totals 6, the banker draws if the player drew a 6 or 7.
- If a banker's hand totals 7, the banker stands.
When this stage is over and the final cards have been dealt, the player with the total closest to 9 is the winner.
Strategy
When developing a card playing strategy, one usually aims to improve their odds, but with Baccarat you simply can't, because everything depends on the cards dealt to you. This game is about total risk. The best thing to do is to avoid the tie bet and bet on your own or the banker's hand.
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More of our Baccarat Articles:
| Baccarat Rules | Baccarat Strategy |
| Baccarat Systems | Play Baccarat |
| Internet Baccarat | Play to Win at Baccarat |
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