Baccarat is a card game that is very popular in casinos worldwide. It is especially popular in Macau, where Punto Banco Baccarat makes up around 90% of the income from casinos.
Masters Games offers a variety of rules, including the historical Baccarat rules described by Seymour in 1897 and the modern Chemin De Fer and Punto Banco.
Baccarat Basic Rules
Court cards have a value of 0, while face-value court cards have a value of 1. Every hand begins with two cards; optionally, a third card may be dealt. The sum of the values is added, and the closest to 9 wins. If the sum exceeds 9, the value returns to 0 instead. A pair of cards 6, 7, and 9 has a value of 3 and not 13, while three cards, 9, 6, or 9, have a value of 4. For sums greater than 2, ignore the leading digit.
It is easy to decide whether you stick or take a 3rd card. If the sum is below 4, then take a card. If the sum exceeds 6, stick, and the odds are roughly equal if it’s a 5. Because most house rules require that both the player and the banker play the odds, the game is often simplified. When the sum is 5, the player has no choice but to ask for a second card. Sometimes the banker has a little more control and can draw on 3, 4, 5, or 6, depending on the player’s third card (which is usually placed face-up). However, it still requires very little skill.
Baccarat, as Seymour described it in 1897
The game is also known as “Baccara Banque,” or simply “Baccara” in England, and “Baccara a Deux Tableaux” in France. That refers to Baccara with two tableaux. It’s only sometimes played in the USA. The definitive version of the rules was published in 1897 by Richard Seymour in a “Hoyle.”
The players usually choose the banker. A player can play head-to-head with the banker for each deal. The banker will place the amount to be played on the table. Each player can say “Banco” and challenge the banker to win all the stakes in one go. The duel takes place directly if this happens.
Normal play will continue otherwise. Non-banking players can be divided into two halves. One half is the player to the right, and the other is the one to the left. Each deal has a representative who plays against the banker. These are the players on either side of a banker. When a player loses, they pass the privilege to the next player. Until all the players on the same side have played, the representative duties will return to the player next to the banker. In effect, the banker plays two head-to-head games against each of the representatives from the other half-table for every deal.
After the banker places the initial stake, players can take turns placing down stakes of any amount up to the total of their respective halves of the table. The banker then gives two cards to himself and two to his two representatives. The banker will then deal two cards to himself and the players if they have totals of 8 or 9. If this happens, the other hands are also shown, and bets are placed accordingly.
If they don’t, each player gets a chance at a third card. The process begins with the player to the banker’s right and ends with the banker. The banker must take a third if no player accepts a second card. Any third card is dealt face-up, all hands are displayed, and bets are made accordingly.
The banker will pay all bets on the side with a better hand than his banker if the player has the best hand. If the hand is less than the banker, the banker will collect all bets on the other side of the table. It is a stand-off, and no money will be exchanged.
Baccarat – Chemin de Fer
This version of Baccara a Un tableau is known in France as Baccara a Un Table (Baccara with only one table), but it is commonly called Chemin de Fer in the USA/UK. Seymour mentions this variant of baccarat rules singapore, implying that Baccarat’s double-table game is the first.
The Baccarat version, Deaux tableaux, differs from the Baccarat version in two ways. First, unless someone plays ‘Banco”, the banker is only allowed to play against the player on the right. All players pay or receive the banker’s money. The bank’s hands change more frequently – the banker is no longer the player on the left.
Baccarat – Punto Banco
Baccarat originated in Latin America, where it was popularized via Cuba and became the most widely played version of the game in America. It is often called “Baccarat Chemin de Fer” by Americans to confuse the rest of the world.
It is very similar to the game in play. The main difference is the bank, which the casino or house always holds in this version. Each deal pits the banker against the player’s hands – players decide which side to take. The player who has the highest amount of bets on his hand wins. However, the banker gets the cards, and the player plays them. This person is the same as any other player who has bet on the hand of the player.
Although the shoe of cards can still be passed from one player to another, this dealer is not a bankroller but only a dealer. The dealer is the same as any other player and can bet on the hand of either the dealer or the player.
