Baccarat

The Baccarat objective is to assemble a hand of two or three cards with a points value as close to nine as possible. The perfect hand is one that totals nine in the first two cards. Eight is the second -best hand and, along with the nine, it constitutes the two "natural" hands. The only hand that will
beat a natural eight is a natural nine. If any player's hand or the Bank has a natural eight or nine,
the others may not draw a third card. In a tie, bets are called off.

Aces count as one, picture cards as 10, and the others their face value. If your hand total is in
double figures, then the first figure is ignored. So a hand totalling 18 would count as eight.

The player with the most money is usually is declared the banker - this is the casino in Baccarat Banque and rotates in Chemin de Fer. The banker deals three hands of two cards each, face down. These hands are for two players, one to the right and one the left of the banker, plus his own hand. Other players at the table may bet on either hand (cheval) or both to beat the banker's hand. If a player declares "banco", it means they are betting the total value of the bank's funds and all other
bets are withdrawn.

If either player has a count less than eight or nine, he may stand (saying "non") or get one more
card face up (saying "carte"). The player must stand on six or seven and must draw on four or less. Casinos usually take their percentage of the bank and bets as their fee for the game.

There are two hands played in Baccarat - the "player" hand and the "banker" hand. You can bet on either one. If the hand you bet on wins, you receive an even money (1:1) payoff. There is one other bet you can make - the tie bet. If you make this bet and the two hands tie, you receive an 8:1 payoff. Ties, however, occur less than once out of every ten hands. At the start, each hands receive 2 cards. When necessary, additional cards are drawn according to the rules. The hand closest to 9 wins.

10s, Jacks, Queens, and Kings all count as 0. The ace through 9 cards have face values of 1 to 9,
respectively. To determine the value of each hand, you simply add the cards. If the total is over 10, the first digit is ignored. So an 8 and a 6 would normally equal 14 but, since we disregard the first digit, we instead have a hand of 4. Similarly, a 6 and 4 would equal 0 and a 10 and 9 would equal 9.

If the first two cards total 9, the hand is called a "natural" and automatically wins. Two cards totaling
8 is also referred to as a natural and it wins automatically too, unless the hand it is playing against
has a natural as well. When both hands contain a natural, the higher natural hand wins (9 beating
an 8). If the hands have equal value, it is a tie.

When neither hand has a natural, there is no automatic winner, and additional cards are drawn to determine the outcome of the hand

Baccarat Gambling - The Player Hand :

The player hand is played first, according to the following rules:

When the first two cards equal.......

...the player
must........

6, 7, 8, or 9

Stand

Any other value

Draw one card

The player hand can never receive more than one additional card. The hand must stand after the
third card, regardless of its value at that point.

Baccarat Gambling - The Banker Hand :

The banker hand is a bit more complicated. How the banker hand gets played is usually determined by the player hand's third card. If the player did not draw a third card (i.e. had a 6 or higher), then
the banker draws a card only if its first two cards total less than 5. Otherwise, the banker stands.

If the player did draw a third card, then the banker plays as follows:

When the banker's first two cards equal...

...the banker draws if the player's third card is:
3 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10
4 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
5 4, 5, 6, 7
6 6, 7
When the banker's first two cards equal... ...the banker will:
2 or less Always draw
7, 8, or 9 Always stand

Baccarat Gambling - Wins, Losses, and Ties :

The hand closest to nine always wins. If there is a natural, it is an automatic winner, and no further cards are drawn.

Banker and player bets pay even money when you win. A winning banker bet, however, is subject
to a 5% house commission. So if you made a $5 banker bet and won, you would receive $5.00
minus 5% ($0.25), which would actually be $4.75. If the two hands tie, neither bet wins nor loses
any money. If you made a tie bet, however, you would receive an 8:1 payoff.

Although banker bets must pay a 5% commission when won, they are still good bets to make since banker hands actually win more frequently than player hands. All things considered, the banker
and player bets give you about the same odds. In both cases, the house edge is quite small - in
fact, it is only 1.17% on banker bets, and a 1.36% on player bets. From a statistical standpoint, you are slightly better off wagering on the banker, albeit not by much.