Baccarat Rules and Information

Baccarat is a card where players must have rely on “gut feelings” to be successful. It is very a very fun and exciting game and is very simple to learn and play. The players basically have three choices to choose from before any cards are dealt. You must choose if you think that the players cards will win, the dealers cards will win or that they will tie. The winning hand is the hand that is totaled closest to 9. All bets are made before the cards are dealt.

A full deck is used and the cards rank as follows: Aces count as 1, cards 2 through 9 count at face value and 10 and face cards count as 0. The game begins by players betting that the dealers cards will win, that the players cards will win or that the two hands will tie. Once all bets are made the dealer deals out a total 4 cards, two making up the dealers hand and the other two making up the players hand.

If the two cards dealt to either the player or the dealer total 8 or 9 it is considered a “natural and that hand is declared the winner. If the totals are the same, the hand is declared a tie and if both hands equal 7 or less the game continues. Calculated totals is where it may be a little confusing. A hand can never total more than 9 so if a total is greater than 9 then the first number of the two digit total is dropped and the second number makes up the hand total. For example if the two cards in the hand are 7 and 8 (totaling 15), the 1 is dropped and the hand total is considered to be 5. If the cards dealt are 7 and 4 for a total of 11, the actual hand total is 1.

Games may vary casino to casino so it is important to understand the rules before you begin to play. However the most common version is as follows. Once the two initial cards are dealt and it is not a tie or neither the player or the dealer are holding a natural the game continues. The players hand always hits first. In most cases if the playes hand totals 6 or higher they must stand on that total and no additional cards are dealt. If their hand is 5 or less than one more card is added to their total. The amount of additional cards dealt to the player and the dealer varies from casino to casino but 2 or 3 is common.

The dealers hand must stand on a total of 7 or higher and will receive an additional card if their hand is 6 or less. Once both hands have been completed, the hand that is closest to 9 will win. Payouts in Baccarat are 1 to 1 when betting and winning on either the dealers hand or the players hand and 8 to 1 when betting and winning on a tie.

You will find that most online casinos have great versions of this game and Baccarat tables can be found where minimum bets are as low as $1 and maximum bets of over $200 per hand.