Baccarat

This long-time favourite of the upper crust and gaming elite is an elegant and easy-to-master game of chance. In Baccarat, two cards are dealt to a Player hand and two to a Banker hand. The goal is to predict which hand will score closest to nine points - the Player's hand or the Banker's hand. If you're not convinced either hand will score closer to nine points, you can bet the two hands will tie. It's that simple. Go ahead, step behind the velvet ropes into a simple and elegant world of gaming that you're sure to appreciate.

In Baccarat, two cards are dealt to the Player hand and two to the Banker hand. You are not the "Player." The Player is just one hand on which you can bet. The goal of Baccarat is to predict which hand will score closest to nine points. You can bet on the Player hand, on the Banker hand, or on a Tie.

A hand of eight or nine points is considered a natural and automatically wins, unless there is a tie. If both hands have a natural, the hand with the highest point value wins. However, if you bet on the Banker or Player hand and both hands have naturals of equal point value; your bet is pushed back to you.

In the event that neither hand has a natural, each hand is dealt a third card according to rules governing how the Player and Banker hands are dealt. Please see rules below.

Important - In the casino software, cards will be automatically dealt according to the rules governing how the Player and Banker hands are dealt. See rules below.

You place a bet on the Player, Banker, or on a Tie The Player and Banker are each dealt two cards If either hand has a natural, that hand automatically wins, unless there is a tie. (In a tie between two naturals, the highest point value wins. If both naturals are equal, you push on Banker and Player bets and win on Tie bets.) The Player draws a third card or stands according to the rules below The Banker draws a third card or stands according to the rules below The two hands are compared to determine the winner

First, players hand is resolved:

Punto Banco (North American Baccarat)

In the United States and Canada, a variation of baccarat is played in which the casino banks the game at all times. Punters may bet on either the player or the banker, which are merely designations for the two hands dealt in each game.

The drawing rules for the game are fixed, and no options are available. If either the player or banker hand has a natural eight or nine in the first two cards, the hand ends and the higher scoring hand wins. For the player hand, a third card is drawn when the first two card total five or less, and no card is drawn when they total six or more. If the player hand stands on the first two cards, then the banker hand follows the same rules as the player hand. But if the player hand receives a third card, the banker hand is acted on according to the following rules:

• If the banker hand total is 0, 1 or 2, the bank always draws a card.
• If the banker hand total is 3 then the bank draws a third card if the players third card was anything other than 8.
• If the banker hand total is 4 then the bank draws a third card if the players third card was 2 through 7.
• If the banker hand total is 5 then the bank draws a third card if the players third card was 4, 5, 6, or 7.
• If the banker hand total is 6 then the bank draws a third card if the players third card was a 6 or 7.
• If the banker hand total is 7 then the bank always stands.

A winning bet of the player hand pays even money. A winning bet on the banker hand pays even money, less a 5% commission; this is because the third-card rules give the banker hand a mathematical advantage. This commission is collected either of two ways: a) a running total of the commission owed is tracked for each player, and the balance due is paid before the cards are shuffled for a new deal (or more often, at the bettor's option); and b) the commission is paid after each winning hand, either by deducting it from the winnings or by payment by the bettor (i.e., if a $100 bet is won, the bettor may hand the dealer a $5 chip to pay the commission and receive a $100 chip in return, instead of receiving $95 in chips).

If both hands tie, all bets push and may be replayed, increased or decreased at will for the next hand. Most games also offer a proposition bet on ties which pays 8:1 odds.

The traditional form of punto banco baccarat is played at an oval table, similar to the chemin de fer version. The table is staffed by a croupier, who directs the play of the game, and two dealers who collect and pay bets as well as tallying commissions due. Six or eight decks of cards are used, normally shuffled only by the croupier and dealers. Like chemin de fer, the shoe is passed around from player to player, who acts as the dealer of the cards and as "banker," but he or she does not actually bank the game. Indeed, the "banker" may bet on the player hand if he or she wishes, or may pass the shoe along to another player — the role of the "banker" is merely ceremonial. The person who bet the highest amount on the player hand is given the player-hand cards, though he or she simply turns the cards over, annoucing their total. The croupier instructs the "banker" on if or when to deal third cards, and then announces the winning hand.

Despite its simplicity (or perhaps because of it), the punto banco version of baccarat offers some of the lowest house advantage available in a casino. The player bet has a house advantage of 1.24%, and the banker bet (despite the 5% commission) has an advantage of 1.06%. The tie bet has a much higher house advantage of 14.44%, based on six decks in play. [1]

Because of its attraction for wealthy players, a casino may win or lose millions of dollars a night on the game, and the house's fortunes may even affect the bottom line of a corporation's quarterly profit and loss — notations of the effects of major baccarat wins and losses are frequent in the quarterly reports of publicly-traded gaming companies.

Mini-baccarat is essentially the same game, but played at a smaller table very similar to a blackjack table. A single dealer handles the entire game, including dealing the cards. The pace is usually much faster than the "big baccarat" version. Betting minimums and maximums are usually lower. In casinos outside of Las Vegas and Atlantic City, this is frequently the only version of baccarat that is offered.

Card Counting

In blackjack, it is possible to count cards and bet more when it is favourable to the player. Application of methods used at blackjack to calculate the change in advantage at baccarat due to card removal do not yield an advantage to the players as a practical matter on the main wagers. Certain end-deck subsets of cards can prove enormously advantageous to highly-skilled card counter, for example, an end-deck subset of eight ten-valued cards must be a win for the tie wager with its 8-1 payoff, though opportunities are extremely rare.

Judging a Baccarat System Based
Upon "Units per Shoe" Won

Many baccarat systems seem to glamorize their results by looking at one of the most overrated statistics - units won per shoe. This statistic is oftentimes misleading. To begin with, it does not take into consideration the amount of units bet per hand to arrive at that unit per shoe win rate. For example, as we observed with a highly volatile or up-as-you-lose/up-as-you-win system, it took many units (and correlatively, it took a risk of many units) to win a relatively small amount of units. So, it is important to look at the average units bet per hand divided into the units won per shoe. Another factor overlooked is the units won per hour, not the units won per shoe. And, don't forget about commissions. It is usually wise to measure a system against the commission outlay.

Some systems get you out of the game usually before the shoe ends (in the case of a losing shoe or a winning shoe that starts to lose) and in most cases well before the mid-point of the shoe. This means (i) you will come out of the game with much lower commissions and this has the additional benefit of significantly lowering your commissions per shoe ratio and (ii) you are able to start a new game and get two or more shoes in within the hour. Therefore, your units won per hour may be higher. Remember, since time is your most precious commodity, you need to measure your winnings against the time it took to get it. It should be noted, however, that if a system is truly successful, in the long run you will fare better by playing out the shoe rather than cutting it short.

Take the following example. Let's say that system developer A states that his baccarat system averages "4 units a shoe" and it is a flat 1 unit bet system. The 4 units per shoe might seem inferior to the 7 or 8 units that system developer B proclaims. However, when you consider that system B's average bet is 3 units or more, and the units won to average shoe win per bet ratio is far below 4.0, you soon realize that units won per shoe is essentially a meaningless statistic.

If you want to compare "apples to apples" determine the average bet size of system B (which is 3 units) and determine the average unit win rate (which in our example we will assume is 7.5 units). This system takes an investment of 3 units per hand to generate 7.5 units per shoe. System A only invests 1 unit per hand to win 4 units per shoe. That is a ratio of a 4 unit win for each 1 unit per hand bet. Then take system A and compare by multiplying 4 times the average bet size of the system you are comparing. In other words, let's bet 3 units in system A instead of 1 unit per hand. This will give you 3 times 4, which is the average units won per shoe, or 12 units. Clearly, system A is better. So, don't be lured by those deceptive ads about the greatness of average shoe win rate.