How to Play Baccarat

Over the centuries, as the game has passed from generation to generation and from nation to nation, numerous variations of the game and its rules can be found. Games such as Chemin de Fer, Punto Banco, Baccarat Banque, and Midi Baccarat are still all played around the world.

However, by and large the fundamentals of the game have remained constant in all variations with only subtle changes by variation.

For the sake of avoiding confusion, we will concentrate on the general principles of the game and standard rules of Punto Banco. Most games of Baccarat found in the biggest gambling meccas of the world (US, UK, Macau, Sweden, Australia etc.) and indeed online, are in fact the ‘Punto Banco’ version.

The major difference between old school Baccarat and Punto Banco is the in the latter the casino banks the game at all times rather than the role of banker alternating between players at the table.

Playing a Hand of Baccarat

Cards are dealt from a shoe usually containing 6-8 decks of cards. All bets must be made prior to the two hands being dealt. Once all bets have been placed both the player and banker are dealt two cards each. The perfect hand to be dealt is a ‘natural 9’ – that is a score of 9 derived from combining the totals of both cards dealt. It is also the maximum total points allowable in a hand of Baccarat. Totals above 10 must remove the first digit.

The cards point values are as follows: Ace = 1, 2-9 = face values, 10 and picture cards = 0. Therefore, if a hand is dealt a 10 and a 3 the total score would be 3. Likewise, a hand containing an 8 and a 7 will result in a 5 point hand as the first digit in a two digit score must be removed.

A ‘natural’ 8 or 9 will end the game with no need for either hand to draw further cards. The score closest to 9 will have won the hand. If both players score 8 or 9 then the hand is ruled a tie. In the result of a tie any money bet on either hand will be returned.

Taking a Third Card

Player

The Player stands on scores of between 6 and 9. As long as the Banker hasn’t scored a natural 8 or 9 (which ends the game), the Player draws a third card when their hand scores between 0 and 5.

Banker

If the Player doesn’t take a third card the Banker acts in the same manner as described above. However, if the Player takes a third card there are rules determining the Banker’s actions as listed below:

• If the Player draws a 9 through to an Ace the Banker draws with a score of 0-3, and stands pat with a score of 4-7.
• If the Player draws an 8, the Banker draws with a score of 0-2, and stands pat with a score of 3-7.
• If the Player draws a 6 or 7, the Banker draws with a score of 0-6, and stands pat with a score of 7.
• If the Player draws a 4 or 5, the Banker draws with a score of 0-5, and stands pat with a score of 6-7.
• If the Player draws a 2 or 3, the Banker draws with a score of 0-4, and stands pat with a score of 5-7.

Although the rules may seem complicated at first glance Baccarat is actually one of the simplest casino games to play. All you need to remember is that there are only three possible outcomes to bet on (Player, Banker, or tie), and that the hand total closest to 9 wins. As all the actions are predetermined by the cards dealt and undertaken by the dealer (in the popular forms of Baccarat played live and online), you don’t really even need to know the rules – just how to place a bet!