A Guide To Playing Baccarat (Punto Banco)

History of Baccarat The traditional casino game of the aristocracy and the super-rich, the origins of Baccarat go back a very long way. Possibly right back to the Etruscan Civilization in 800 BC. In their hands, though, it was not so much a game, and more a means of assigning religious status to certain female members of society. Candidates would roll a nine-sided dice to choose their fate. An eight or a nine, and they would be made high priestesses. Five or less, though, and forced drowning would result in an untimely death. Even a six or seven would result in banishment.

The Italians inherited the idea from the Etruscans, and eagerly turned it into a game. However, it seems to have been played using tarot cards until relatively recently, thus retaining its links with the occult.

The French acquired an interest in the game through King Charles VIII, who learnt about it while warring with the Italians in the 1490s.

The modern game dates from this period. The name 'Baccara' seems to have come from the Italian for 'nothing', although it may well have been a dialect phrase for 'going bankrupt'.

The French version (called Chemin de Fer (Iron Road), or Railroad) became a firm favourite with the aristocracy. However, it wasn't until the 1950s that the game was introduced to Las Vegas (possibly by Frank Sinatra himself), and then became popular across North America. This American version is called Punto Banco (Player Banker), and pits the players against the casino rather than (in Chemin de Fer) against one another.

Basic Rules of Baccarat

There are only two participants in Baccarat - the player and the banker. Both are competing to get a hand that adds up to a 'natural' - either an eight or a nine. The game starts with both the player and the banker being dealt two cards, and the value of the respective hands are added up.

Live Dealer vs RNG (Random Number Generation) Baccarat Many casinos now offer Live Dealer Baccarat, where you get streaming video showing your cards being dealt out live by a genuine dealer. This feels more realistic than a simplistic computer simulation, and adds extra excitement and atmosphere. You can often interact with the dealer and with other players using a webcam, adding to the feeling of 'being there'.

This does add pressure, though, and other participants can watch your every reaction for clues - the advantage of this isn't as great as it would be in a skill game like Poker, but nonetheless, there is an extra layer of scrutiny that you won't be subjected to when playing a faceless computer simulation.

You can still choose to play anonymously, and you don't have to interact with other players at all. But getting involved with the other participants will tend to make for a friendlier and more rewarding experience.
In a Live Dealer game, there's less opportunity for the casino to 'cheat' the player. Although computer simulations relying on RNGs (Random Number Generators) to deal the cards are theoretically vetted externally, some players doubt the depth of this vetting.

Roulette players running betting strategies (like Martingales) on RNGs often note how frequently they suffer runs against them (eight reds in a row, for instance) that, statistically, should be very rare.

In a Live Dealer game, though, it's much harder (if not impossible) for the cards to be manipulated. And where there are other players alongside you, it makes it less likely that you are being personally targeted by the casino. You can play RNGs at your own speed though, whether you want to go at a leisurely unpressured pace, or remove all animations and blitz through numbers of hands every minute. With Live Dealer games, the pace will always be determined by others.

Tips to Get Started Baccarat is a very simple game. As such, there’s little you can do to change the outcome. It's famed for its small house edge, though. Many gamblers instinctively recoil from the idea of placing Banker bets, as these are subject to a 5% commission. However, even with the commission, these bets give the gambler the best advantage – the house supposedly has an edge of 1.06 - 1.17% here, which is tiny in casino terms.

Player bets aren’t much worse, but do give the house a slightly larger edge of 1.24 - 1.36%.

The most important advice is to stay away from the Tie. With its 8 to 1 payout, this often attracts interest from players. However, you are giving away a massive advantage to the house of 14.12 - 14.36%, meaning you’re likely to lose handsomely over the course of a night with this strategy. Manage your money carefully.

The house edge may be small on Banker and Player bets, but it still exists, so you will lose in the long term. Know when to walk away, and don't overbet.

Extra Tip Even in a proper casino, card counting offers very little advantage in Baccarat. There used to be a regular option for betting directly on a natural. This carried a 9 to 1 payout. However, because card counters were sometimes able to work out if a game was due a run of high cards, this option quickly became open to abuse, and was removed. Nowadays, it's still possible to eke out a very small advantage through card counting. However, the tiny number of games in which an advantage is present ensures that this laborious pastime is hardly worth the effort.

Rules for whether Player Draws a Third Card or Stands: * Hand of 0-5 - Draws again * Hand of 6-7 - Stands

Rules for whether Banker Draws a Third Card or Stands: * Hand of 0-3 - Draws when Player has Hand of 0-9 * Hand of 4 - Draws when Player has Hand of 2-7 * Hand of 5 - Draws when Player has Hand of 4-7 * Hand of 6 - Draws when Player has Hand of 6-7 (but only if the 6-7 has been drawn from three cards) * Hand of 7 - Stands