Monday, April 18, 2011

Winning at Baccarat

If you’re looking for a different kind of card game away from all the varieties of poker, look no further than baccarat. The game was more popular in olden times after originating in France, but it is still popular at both land-based and online casinos and can bring high stakes.

The rules are simple once you get the basic math down. The goal is a total value of 9, or as close as you can to 9 without going over, in two or three cards. Cards 2 through 9 are face value and Aces are worth 1. 10’s and face cards are worth 0. If you go over 9, 10 is subtracted and basically screws you over. For example, if you have a 3 and an 8, your ending value is 1 (11-10=1), which is a losing hand.

You play against as many as 14 other players at the table. You can’t be dealt more than three cards and if the value of your first two cards is 6 or more, you can’t take a third one. A hand value of 8 or 9 in the first two cards is called a natural hand and you must stick with it.

The dealer shuffles the cards and puts them in a cardshoe for players to take turns dealing from. If the baccarat table is full, there will be three dealers. Two dealers at each end of the table determines wins/losses and who owes money to the banker. The middle dealer calls out totals and determines who is eligible to be dealt a third card.

A player has three options for betting: that their hand will win, that the banker’s hand will win, or that the two hands will tie. The table has rows for each bet. Baccarat is different type of card game far off from other styles and has an attractive house advantage of only 1.4%.

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