Baccarat is an old casino game and one that's still very popular today. Simple rules, good odds of winning, quick action, and sheer excitement keep players from all around the globe — including here in Switzerland — returning time and again.
Legend has it that baccarat was brought to France from Italy by French soldiers returning home in the late 15th century. The game soon gained popularity among the French aristocracy, so much so that even casino bans could not manage to dampen its popularity. Today, whether you play at a land-based casino or win the jackpot at an Online Casino my Baccarat, the game offers a refined mix of chance and strategy. Some 50 years later, baccarat made its way to the United States, though some sources say this was decades later.
Baccarat: The Basic Rules of the Game
Objective: Predict the winning result — Banker, Player, or a Tie.
The dealer uses 6 or 8 standard decks of 52 cards in a shoe to deal the game. The dealer draws a card at a time from the shoe and deals it alternately into the Player and Banker positions. The side with the higher total (of two or three cards) wins the round. The maximum total that can be obtained is 9. When both sides get the same score, the result is a Tie.
Shoe — a name used in baccarat (and other card games) for the tool that contains multiple decks of cards.
Card Values in Baccarat
- Aces are worth 1 point.
- Cards 2-9 are face value.
- 10s and face cards (Jack, Queen, King) are worth 0.
Only digits on the cards are used in baccarat — groups aren't important, except for some side bets (like a Perfect Pair)
Two cards is given to both a Banker and a Player by the dealer at the start of every round, with a Player getting the cards first. The points in hand are counted by adding value of two cards. Ten points is taken away if total is ten or more.
For case: if a Player gets a 7 and a 9 (total 16) the score is 6 (16 – 10 = 6).
If one hand adds up to 8 or 9 with the first two cards, it is a nature and a third card is n͏ot drawn.
The Third Card Rule
If no hand is a natural and the totals are 0 to 7, a third card may be drawn by the dealer, starting with the Player.
Hand — the set of cards that the Player or the Banker holds.
Player's Hand:
- If the total is 6 or 7, a third card is never drawn.
- If the total is 0 to 5, a third card is drawn.
Banker's Hand:
- If the sum is 0-2, then Banker always take a third card.
- If the sum is 3, the Banker takes a card unless the Player's last card is an 8.
- If total is 4, the Banker takes card if Player's last card is 2 to 7.
- If the sum is 5, the Banker takes a card if the Player's last card is 4 to 7.
- If the sum is 6; the Banker picks if the Player's last card is 6 or a 7.
- If the sum is 7, the Banker stops no third card gets drawn.
Betting Options
You can bet on a Player, the Banker or Tie in standard baccarat.
In some types of the game, there are extra bets like:
- Pair: A wager that the Player or Banker's first two cards shown will be a pair (like, two 6s)
- Great Match: A wager that the first two cards will not just be of the same wo͏rth but also of the same type (like, two 5s of spade)
Displaying Results
Casinos typically show game results on graphical scoreboards, marking Banker wins (red), Player wins (blue), and Ties (green). There are a number of variations of such boards, with the most common being Big Road and Bead Road. The scoreboard is reset and tracking begins again when a new shoe is begun.
