Baccarat
Baccarat may sound complicated, but it’s actually one of the easiest card games to play at an online casino. This game is perfect for when you just want to sit back and relax because the dealer does all the work for you. Curious to know more? Read on for a beginner’s guide to Baccarat!
Rules
Baccarat is a basic two-hand card game, where each hand is made up of two cards. Two cards are dealt to the Player’s side and two other cards are dealt to the Banker’s side.
Don’t get confused with the terms. Player doesn’t mean you nor does Banker mean the dealer. Player and Banker are simply terms used to refer to the sides you’ll be betting on.
The only thing you have to do in this game is to bet on whether the Player or Banker will win. You can bet on either Player, Banker, or a tie. That’s it!
You can play this game alone or with a group of people who are playing the game simultaneously.
Once everyone has finalized how much their betting and which side they’ll be betting on, the dealer can start the game.
The dealer draws two cards for both the Player side and the Banker side, and whichever side has a hand with a total value closest to nine wins! And the game starts all over again.
Card Values
Like Blackjack, cards have values assigned to them in this game:
- Cards 2 to 9 = face value
- Jack, Queen, King & 10s = 0
- Ace = 1
To illustrate the card values, let’s say that the dealer draws a King and an Ace for the Player’s side, while the Banker’s side is dealt with a 10 card and an 8 card.
Player: King (0) + Ace (1) = 1
Banker: 10 (0) + 8 (8) = 8
In this scenario, the Banker’s hand is closest to 9. Anyone who bets on the Banker’s side wins.
If either the Player’s side or the Banker’s side has a hand worth double digits, then the first digit is removed.
So for example, the Player’s side has a hand of 4 and 9, with a total value of 13, then the 1 is dropped and the Player’s hand is now worth 3.
Additional Rules
There are dozens of instances where the game deviates from the regular rules like when a third card is dealt, some of them include:
- If either the Player or Banker’s hand is a Natural 8 or 9, that side stands.
- The dealer will draw a third card if the Player’s hand is worth 5 or less.
- If the Player stands and the Banker’s hand is worth 5 or less, the Banker will get an additional card.
It’s not necessary for you to know every scenario in Baccarat. The dealer will know how to handle these kinds of situations when it happens.
Payouts
Betting on the Player, the Banker, or a tie has a corresponding payout if that side wins.
- If you bet on the Player’s side and the Player’s hand wins, you win an amount that matches your initial bet.
- If you bet on the Banker’s side and the Banker’s hand wins, you get 95% of your initial bet. Since the game favors the Banker’s hand, the casino will take a 5% commission for bets made on the Banker.
- If both the Player and Banker have the same value of cards, and you bet on a tie, you get an 8-to-1 payout. This outcome rarely happens, so we suggest betting on either Player or Banker for most of your games.
If all of this sounds like a lot of math, you won’t have to worry, the dealer will do all of it for you.
Now that wasn’t so hard, was it? As you can see, Baccarat is a very simple, quick game where everything is left to chance. Head on over to your favorite online casino and start playing. Good luck!