Casino Game – Baccarat

Baccarat: You can be Bond

“Vodka Martini, shaken, not stirred.”

Everyone knows that line, and everyone knows that the licensed-to-kill British agent plays Baccarat, but may not know anything else about the game.

Baccarat (pronounced “bah-cah-rah,” the t being silent) is an elitist game played by high rollers, and can be very intimidating to casino newcomers. However, with just a little bit of knowledge, one can see past the associated casino baccarat jargon and find a simple, easy-to-play game with very player friendly odds.

While there are several versions of Baccarat, the version played in most casinos in the United States is very simple, and requires very little input on the part of the player. In fact, the player only needs to decide what to bet on, and the rest is out of their hands. Baccarat is actually a game of chance, since it requires no skill on the part of the player.

The rules of the game are quite simple. Similar to Blackjack, there are the player side and banker sides. The player and banker are each dealt 2 cards facedown. The cards are then turned face-up and scored. If the player or the banker receives a score of 8 or 9, no further cards are dealt and that person wins the hand. Unless, of course, the other got the same, in which case the result is a tie.

Cards scoring is quite simple. Cards 2-9 are worth their number value, while aces are worth 1, and 10-King are each worth 10. The two cards are added together, and the tens place is ignored, so 11 equals a 1, 12 equals a 2, and so forth. Once the cards are scored and compared, players may or may not receive a third, or “hit,” card. The rules for hit cards are pre-established, and do not allow for more than one hit.

If the player’s cards are scored as 0-5, the player hits, and stands on 6 or 7. The dealer’s hit rules are a little more complicated, and depend on what the player did. If the player did not draw a card, or if the player drew anything other than a 2 or 3, the banker stands on 6 or 7. If the player drew a 2 or 3, the dealer stands on 5-7. After hit cards are dealt, cards are scored again, and the higher total wins.

So, since the rules for hitting and scoring are set in stone, the only real decision a person needs to make in Baccarat is to bet on the player, the banker, or for a tie. Generally, the best bet is on the banker, who has slightly better odds to win. The casino does charge a 5% commission on winning bets on the banker, so this slightly evens the odds between the banker and the player. Betting for a tie is a horrible bet, as the house edge of 14% on tie bets negates the 8 to 1 payoff.