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Baccarat Casino Game Tutorial

March 04, 2012 1:14 PM by GT Staff

GamingToday Casino Games Baccarat TutorialBaccarat is a card game played at casinos. There are three popular variants of the game: punto banco (or “North American baccarat”), baccarat chemin de fer, and baccarat banque (or “à deux tableaux”). Punto banco is strictly a game of chance, with no skill or strategy involved; each player’s moves are forced by the cards the player is dealt. In baccarat chemin de fer and baccarat banque, by contrast, both players can make choices, which allows skill to play a part. Despite this, the winning odds are in favour of the bank, with a house edge no lower than around 1 per cent.

Baccarat is a comparing card game played between two hands, the “player” and the “banker.” Each baccarat coup has three possible outcomes: “player” (player has the higher score), “banker,” and “tie.”

Valuation of hands

In Baccarat, cards have a point value: cards 2–9 are worth face value (in points); 10s, Js, Qs and Ks have no point value (i.e. are worth zero); Aces are worth 1 point; Jokers are not used in the game of Baccarat. Hands are valued according to the rightmost digit of the sum of their constituent cards: for example, a hand consisting of 2 and 3 is worth 5, but a hand consisting of 6 and 7 is worth 3 (i.e. the 3 being rightmost digit in the combined points total: 13).[2] Logically then, the highest possible hand value in Baccarat is 9. In the game, a “Baccarat” refers to anything with a value of zero; in a hand of K, 4 and 6, the King is a “baccarat,” and the hand value is also “baccarat.”

Varieties of Baccarat


Punto banco

The overwhelming majority of casino baccarat games in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Sweden, Finland, and Macau, are “Punto banco” baccarat and they may be seen labelled simply as “Baccarat”. In Punto banco, the casino banks the game at all times, and commits to playing out both hands according to fixed drawing rules, known as the “tableau” (French: “board”), in contrast to more historic baccarat games where each hand is associated with an individual who makes drawing choices. Player (“Punto”) and Banker (“banco”) are simply designations for the two hands dealt out in each coup, two outcomes which the bettor can back; Player has no particular association with the customer, nor Banker with the house.

In some countries, this version of the game is known as tableau.

Punto banco is dealt from a shoe containing 4, 6 or 8 decks of cards shuffled together. A cut-card is placed in front of the seventh-last card, and the drawing of the cut-card indicates the last coup of the shoe. For each coup, two cards are dealt face up to each hand, starting from “player” and alternating between the hands. The croupier may call the total (e.g. “Five Player, three Banker”). If either Player or Banker or both achieve a total of 8 or 9 at this stage, the coup is finished and the result is announced: Player win, a Banker win, or tie. If neither hand has eight or nine, the drawing rules are applied to determine whether Player should receive a third card. Then, based on the value of any card drawn to the player, the drawing rules are applied to determine whether the Banker should receive a third card. The coup is then finished, the outcome is announced and winning bets are paid out.

The tableau of drawing rules for punto banco


Player’s rule


Banker’s rule


If Player drew a 2 or 3, Banker draws with 0–4, and stands with 5–7.

If Player drew a 4 or 5, Banker draws with 0–5, and stands with 6–7.

If Player drew a 6 or 7, Banker draws with 0–6, and stands with 7.

If Player drew an 8, Banker draws with 0–2, and stands with 3–7.

If Player drew an ace, 9, 10, or face-card, the Banker draws with 0–3, and stands with 4–7.


If the banker total is 2 or less, then the banker draws a card, regardless of what the player’s third card is.

If the banker total is 3, then the bank draws a third card unless the player’s third card was an 8.




If the banker total is 7, then the banker stands.

A math formula equivalent to the drawing rules is: take the value of Player’s third card, counting 8 and 9 as −2 and −1. Divide by 2 always rounding down towards zero. (Thus −1,0,1 all round to zero when this division is done.) Add three to the result. If the Banker’s current total is this final value or less, then draw; otherwise, stand.

The croupier will deal the cards according to the tableau and the croupier will announce the winning hand: either Player or Banker. Losing bets will be collected and the winning bets will be paid according to the rules of the house. Usually, even money or 1–1 will be paid on Player bets and 95% to Banker bets (even money with “5% commission to the house”).

Should both Banker and Player have the same value at the end of the deal the croupier shall announce “egalité — tie bets win.” All tie bets will be paid at 8 to 1 odds and all bets on Player or Banker remain in place and active for the next game (the customer may or may not be able to retract these bets depending on casino rules).

Casino provision

In casinos in Las Vegas and Atlantic City, punto banco is usually played in special rooms separated from the main gaming floor, ostensibly to provide an extra measure of privacy and security because of the high stakes often involved. The game is frequented by very high rollers, who may wager tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars on a single hand. Minimum bets are relatively high, often starting at US$25 and going as high as $500. Posted maximum bets are often arranged to suit a player, but maximums of $10,000 per hand are common. When it comes to online casinos, usually high roller baccarat games are played in separate rooms. A player that wants to play high roller baccarat online can do so only with an invitation which is not easily acquired. Most of the time the invitations are given to players that spend lots of time playing baccarat for real money.

Because baccarat attracts wealthy players, a casino may win or lose millions of dollars a night on the game, and the house’s fortunes may significantly affect the owning corporation’s quarterly profit and loss statement. Notations of the effects of major baccarat wins and losses are frequently found in the quarterly reports of publicly traded gaming companies.


Midi and mini punto


Punto banco odds and strategy

Punto banco has both some of the lowest house edges among casino table games, and some of the highest. The Player bet has an attractively low house edge of 1.24%, and the Banker bet (despite the 5% commission) is even lower, at 1.06%. Both are just slightly better for Player than chances at single-zero roulette, and comparable to playing blackjack by intuition rather than correct strategy.

In contrast, the tie bet has a punishingly high house edge of 14.4%. Most casinos in the United Kingdom pay the tie at 9–1, resulting in a more lenient house edge of around 4% for the tie bet.



Nonetheless, many punto banco players record the coup results as the shoe progresses, laying them out using pen and paper according to traditional patterns such as “big road,” “bead road,” “big eye road,” “small road” and “cockroach road,” and making inferences about the result of the next coup by examining the layout. Recently casinos (particularly online casinos) have begun to display the coup results in the current shoe using audiovisual equipment. Despite the impossibility of altering winning chances by examining the result history of the shoe, the use of record cards in punto banco is pervasive in casinos across the world.

EZ Baccarat: No-Commission Baccarat

EZ Baccarat is a proprietary variation of baccarat and is preferred in many casinos around the world. The EZ Baccarat draw rules and outcomes are identical to those of classic baccarat, with the following exception: a winning Banker bet is paid even money (1-to-1, instead of the 19-to-20 of standard Baccarat) except when it wins with a three-card point total of seven, in which case it is a “push” or a “barred” hand. The house edge on a Banker bet under EZ Baccarat rules is 1.018%, which is just slightly lower than the house edge on the Banker bet in standard commission-based baccarat. The use of this EZ Baccarat “push rule” is equivalent to taking a 4.912% commission out of every winning Banker bet payout. The three-card seven-point winning Banker hand (called a “Dragon 7”) occurs about twice per eight-deck shoe. In addition to the no-commission feature, EZ Baccarat has two additional side bets: the Dragon 7 and the Panda 8. The Dragon 7 is a one-coup bet that always loses except when the Banker bet wins with a three-card score of seven. The Dragon 7 pays 40-to-1 when won and has a house edge of 7.61%. The Panda 8 bet is a one-coup bet that always loses except when the Player bet wins with a three-card score of eight. The Panda 8 bet pays 25-to-1 when won and has a house edge of 10.18%. The addition of the Dragon 7 and Panda 8 side bets, along with the significant increase in the number of coups dealt per hour, results in increased casino hold percentages from EZ Baccarat play. Apart from the principal benefit of increased game speed, casinos prefer EZ Baccarat not only because it eliminates both errors in calculating commissions and disputes with customers over proper commission amounts, but also because EZ Baccarat is often much easier for the casino staff to operate and supervise than is classic baccarat.

Super 6/Punto 2000

A variation of punto banco exists where even money is paid on winning Banker bets (rather than 95%), except when Banker wins with 6, it is paid only 50% of the bet. This game goes under various names including “Super 6,” and “Punto 2000.” The house edge on a Banker bet under Super 6 is 1.46% compared with regular commission baccarat at 1.058%. This is equivalent to increasing the commission by 17.45% to 5.87%. The Bank wins with a six about 5 times every eight deck shoe. As well as its increased house edge, the Super 6 variation is used by casinos for its speed, since it partially does away with the time-consuming process of calculating and collecting commission on winning Banker bets; but still requires stopping the game, breaking down every Bank bet and paying 50% of its value each time there is a Bank winner with a six.

Chemin de Fer

Chemin de fer was the original version of baccarat when it was introduced to France and is still the version that is popular there. The name “Chemin de Fer” (iron road) came about because the cards were placed in an iron box[8] and predates its modern French meaning of “railway.” In 1960 Lord Lucan won £26,000 over two nights playing ‘Chemmy’ at a high end gambling party run by John Aspinall. However, Lucan would eventually accrue significant debts.


Once play begins, one player is designated as the “banker.” This player also deals. The other players are “punters.” The position of banker passes counterclockwise in the course of the game. In each round, the banker wagers the amount he wants to risk. The other players, in order, then declare whether they will “go bank,” playing against the entire current bank with a matching wager. Only one player may “go bank.” If no one “goes bank,” players make their wagers in order. If the total wagers from the players are less than the bank, observing bystanders may also wager up to the amount of the bank. If the total wagers from the players are greater than the bank, the banker may choose to increase the bank to match; if he does not, the excess wagers are removed in reverse play order.




Baccarat Banque











In the laws of baccarat, no one code is accepted as authoritative, different clubs make their own rules.


A reliable winning strategy calls for placing bets on the bank hands. This surprises many players because bank bets are subject to the 5 percent commission. However, the bank should win 50.7 percent of the time. And the 5 percent commission is paid only on winnings and not on losing bets. So, a player has a slightly better advantage by playing the bank.

As with other table games such as blackjack and craps, flat bets will, at the very best, even out over the long run. To be successful at baccarat, you should increase bets after winning hands in order to take advantage of short streaks that often occur. Conversely, losing bets should never be increased.

A sound betting system for baccarat calls for increasing your bets after a previous win over a cycle of five hands, according to the following schedule:

• An initial bet of one unit is made.

• The second bet is three times the original bet.

• The third bet is four times the original bet.

• The fourth bet is five times the original bet.

• The fifth bet is six times the original bet.

After the fifth bet, the cycle reverts to the original bet. Although this system calls for increasing bets in the ratio of 1-3-4-5-6, no bet beyond the second one is ever double the previous bet. This prevents the player from being wiped out by a losing bet.

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