Baccarat

BaccaratBACCARAT GAME

Baccarat Game is a game of cards that is available in many casinos all over the world. It involves both the player and the banker. The casino always collect a charge one the banker emerges as the winner.

About Baccarat Game

Baccarat is a kind of banking game that is played globally in different casinos, this game is referred to as Baccarat at times and it can be played online. The gamer will want to focus on beating the banker by forming a hand closer to 9 in term point value. Baccarat pit is where players used to play the game of baccarat. It is an area on uniquely made table that has security for its protection. In all casino games, the highly exclusive one according to players is baccarat which has secured many players with high profiles.

In 19th century, baccarat was noticed as a game in France. Then the gameplay was first explained in 1847 in a book by Charles Van-Tenac with a title Album des jeux de hazard et de combinaisons. As at that time Baccarat á Deux Tableaux is what Baccarat is known as before having different variants. Chemin de Fer is a popular variant that was known as Baccarat Chemin de Fer initially. As at the first appearance of baccarat, the fastest means of transportation available as at then is railway which can be compared to this variant too as it known to have more speed than the main baccarat. Another explanation is the movement of train-like manner attributed to the dealing shoe. Punto Banco is the variant commonly played in these days whose origination can be traced back to Cuba during the 50’s at Capri Casino in Havana. Therefore, we will discussing about the above mentioned game and variants. We will start from the one that is popularly played nowadays which is the last one we mentioned.

The origin of Baccarat seem has not being fully ascertained due to many myths about where it first existed. According to some assertion, the game was first played in Italy during the 15th century. However, there is no evidence to back up this claim. It is only the claim referring to the origination of the game in France during the 19th century that has proofs. Although, according to the existing records there are some games that were played in Italy as at that but there is no record that mention the name Baccarat. It was after the game appeared in france and gained popularity that there were claims about it origination for somewhere else. However, all these claims are without evidence like the one in Duckett’s Dictionnaire de la conversation et de la lecture. It was claimed in this dictionary that baccarat found its way to france from Italy during the Italian war between 1494 to 1498 during the time of Charles VIII. It is very probable that many people have also made the same claim later due to the same thing seen in this dictionary. Some Italian language says that the meaning of baccara is zero but this has not been proven by anybody. However, the only claim that is substantiated is the one made by a man called Thierry Depaulis who suggested that the name was formed from fa baccarat that is transcribe as go bankrupt. Below are the explanation of the variants starting from Punto Banco.

Punto Banco

Punto Banco is the most commonly played variant of baccarat in the casinos of nowadays. The game is popularly played by those that used to bet high and famous in among the Asian countries. The game is setup in a way that only two players can play – the player and the banker. However, players can also stake on what the outcome of the game will be like. The setup of the game does not involve the player and the banker having control over the game. The game is purely automatic and it only require the player to place their bet at any side they want and wait meaning that it is based totally on luck.

Fifty-two cards are what baccarat entails and all the cards are numbered based in rank. Number one is given to the aces whereas the zero value is assigned to both the ten-pip cards and face cards. If player accessed the game online they are going to find six card decks but if it is offline it will have 8 decks of cards. What differentiate Baccarat from any other online games is the opportunity for players to stake in two dimension. You can stake that the player will win or stake that the banker will win. 5 percent commission will be charged if the player decides to stake on the hand of the banker. This is to make sure house advantages hold and not depending on the choice of the player.

Gameplay

The way the game is being played offline is only different from online in certain aspects. For offline game, the card will be shuffled by the dealer who will pick the 1st card and show it to the player. The face cards will count as ten and the shown card will be the pip value. The other cards following the first card will be drawn consecutively from the upper layer and discarded immediately. The dealer will count sixteen cards from the bottom and then insert a card that is made of plastic which is known as the cut card. Therefore, whenever the dealer pick the card from the pack, it will indicate that the card that is next in line will be the beginning of another round.

The shuffling of online game is done automatically after each hand. It does not require placing the plastic card 16 cards from the bottom and there is no discarding of cards. After which the dealing of cards will begin, as soon as every players placed their bets. The player hand will receive two cards and the banker hand will receive his own two cards too. As stated earlier, the game only involve two people. This mean it is only a player that will receive the card even if there are lot players on the deck. So to know the hand value of the 2 people, each of their cards has its own value which will be added together. Then the total value while taking the units column into consideration, will be the determinant factor. Using a situation whereby the player is given cards of value 9 and 7 as an illustration. The addition of the two will give 16, taking the units column into consideration, the resultant value is 6. Another scenario is when the player is dealt with 7 and 4. The addition of the number is 11, however with the unit column the value is 1. When the banker is dealt with 10 and 7, the addition is 17. However, considering the unit column the value will be 7.

All dealings are done automatically with the banker and the player having no control over the game. There are certain guidelines that are followed and cannot be altered either by the banker or the player and they include:

  • Both hands will stand whenever 8 or 9 is received either by the banker or the player
  • The player hand will stand whenever 6 or 7 is received by the player
  • The player will received another card if the hand value is 5 of less another card
  • The banker will received another card if the banker value is 5 or less whenever the player hand stands
  • There are two options for the banker hand whenever the player hand received another card. It is either the banker continue the play with the cards at hand based on the value of the card and the additional one received by the player. Or the banker must collect another card also and it is known as hit.
  • The winner will be known based on the value at the end and the hand with the larger value will be the winner. If at the end, the value of both the banker and the player are equal a push will happen. The bet placed by all the players and banker will be given back to them.

Using the illustration above to explain the guidelines after drawing the cards. The value of the two cards drawn by the player as explained above is 1. And according to the guideline, the player must draw another card if the value is less than 5. Then the player total value now will 15 with the resultant hand being 5. The banker value is 7 and according to the guideline once the banker value is high it will stand. Then the banker will be the winner after comparing the final values of both the player and the banker. Therefore, players that bet on the banker will received their winning with the 5 percent commission charged.

There are some situation that will cause confusion for some players such as when the player have six as the value of card whereas the dealer has 7, so why not draw a card for the player? If not is it that the banker has been programmed to win? Also, why is it that the banker only has to decide when the player has been dealt the third card but not when he has two cards? The gameplay is such that the cards of both the players and the bankers are not disclosed. It is only the additional card received by the player that will disclosed. It is when it remain to determine the winner that the cards of the player and banker will be disclosed. However, since the advent of the rule that the player and the banker have no choice in how they want the game to be played. It does not matter if the card are disclosed or not anymore with some players subscribing to displaying the cards from the beginning. However, in the other two older variants of baccarat, the player can decide if they want to be deal with the third card or not. In this case, the card will not be disclosed to the opponent.

Tie Bet

It is possible that there will be a situation in which the player and the banker will have the same value at the end. This kind of situation can be bet upon also in some casinos with the odds being large like 8 to 1 or 9 to 1. It all depends on the casino the player is playing at.

Payouts and Casino Advantage

The table below represent the values of the payouts and casino advantage. There is variation in each casino advantage based on the decks number available.

Payouts Casino Advantage
Eight Decks Six Decks One Decks
Tie 8 – 1 14.36% 14.44% 15.75%
Player 1 – 1 1.24% 1.24 % 1.29%
Banker 19 – 20 1.06 % 1.06 % 1.01%

With the above table, it is clear that the bet with the highest advantage is the bet of the banker. Also we can deduce that the tie bet is very risky and expensive than the other type of bets. Therefore, if you cannot afford a loss do not go near tie bet and if you do not want expensive bets. Also from the table, it can be deduced that the lesser the number of deck, the lesser the advantage in which the casino has on the bet of the banker.. Therefore, the player will find the tie and player bet costly.

Side Bets

Apart from the bet made by the player, other players can also bet on who will win between the player and the banker. This is known as side bet and can be seen in many offline casinos all over the world. However, this side bet is available in a small number of online casinos when it comes to baccarat. Although not all software providers of online casinos offer side bets but some like Dragonfish and Playtech do. The side bets offered by the two mentioned developers together with the house edge and payouts are stated below.

  • Banker Pair: The house edge is 11.254% and the payout is 11 – 1. This bet refer to the two cards of equal that the banker will be given.
  • Player Pair: The house edge is 11.254% and the payout is 11 – 1. This bet refer to the two cards of the same rank the player will be dealt with.
  • Perfect Pair: The house edge is 17.07% and the payout is 25 – 1. This bet refer to the two cards of matching rank and suit that either the banker or the player will be given.
  • Either Pair: The house edge is 14.54% and the payout is 5 – 1. This bet refer to the two cards of matching rank that will be received by the banker or by the player.
  • Small: The house edge is 5.27% and the payout is 1.5 – 1. This bet means that to decide the winner only four cards will be used.
  • Big: The house edge is 4.35% and the payout is 0.54 – 1. This bet refer to the five or six cards that decides the winner.
  • When comparing the side bets and the main bet, it will be observed that side bets are expensive when compared with main bets. Therefore, for someone that can withstand heavy loss it is better to avoid side bets.

Chemin de Fer

In 1883, Chemin de Fer was defined in Nouvelle Academie des Jeux as a type of baccarat game in which the players act as the banker turn by turn when playing the game. Once the player lost the banker role will be pass over and it will continue like that till they finish playing.

The difference this variant and Punto Banco is the choice the player and the banker can made to be dealt a third card or not. Also the way players can bet here different from that of Punto Banco. Also, in this game the players can decide the kind of move they want to make which will take additional time. That is why some players prefer to play those that are not as complex as this game.

About the Game

This is different from Punto Banco in terms of the gameplay. Here eight spaces or above are available for players. And before the game can start at least six players must have occupied the spaces although other casinos will not start until all spaces are filled. If it is 6 players they will play with 6 fifty-two card deck but if it is 8 players they will play with 8 fifty-two card deck. The person that will direct the game will be supplied by the casino and known as croupier. The croupier will collect the 5 percent commission the casino will collect whenever the banker win. The movement of chips and cards is done by the croupier with the aid of a palette. To start the game, the card will be shuffled by the dealer and a player will cut it.

Staking

The banker will be from one of the players and will give out cards to other players under the supervision of the croupier. The banker will first bet and the other players will stake against the banker before they will start sharing cards. The amount the players must stake must not be greater than that of the banker but can be the same amount. The dealing of cards is done by giving the banker a card and one card to serve all the players.

The players will all receive their bets back if the banker lose, the remaining amount will be deposited into the bank and the banker will be changed. However, if the players lose, the banker will receive all the bets. Then the banker give the casino their commission, deposit the remaining into the bank and continuing acting as the banker. If there is a tie, the banker continuing acting as the banker and the players will receive their bets.

To select the banker, the first player at the right of the croupier will act as the banker then it will pass turn by turn in anti-clockwise motion. Also, in a situation whereby the person that is supposed to be the banker reject the offer, the position will passed to the next person. The anti-clockwise motion will still be maintained.

A player can bet exactly the amount inside the bank after the banker has placed their stake. To do this the player need to say banco. But if more players utter it at the same time then preference will be given to next person that will be banker after the presiding banker. However, if there is no utter of such word then each players can bet any amount and the total must not be more than the amount in bank. In case before all the players have placed their bet, the total amount already surpassed the one in bank. All the remaining players that are left to bet will not be able to. Once all the players have placed their bets and the total is less than the one in bank, the people watching can be allowed to stake. However, no one is willing to bet then the difference between the bank money and helps the banker to safeguard it.

It is not possible for the banker to withdraw money from the bank after winning if he still want to continuing acting as the banker. The next round, the amount the banker will bet must bet the same amount as the total bets of the players in the previous round and in addition any winnings. However, any banker that wish to discontinue being a banker can collect all his winnings and the money the croupier is holding for him. Then the next player in line to be the banker can take in as much as he is going to bet exact amount the former banker should have staked. But, if he reject the offer then the next person in anti-clockwise motion can take up the offer. That is how the offer will be passed until someone finally take up the offer to act as the banker. However, once this banker loses the person that will be banker after will be the person next to the banker that opt out. If no one is willing to match the amount the retiring banker is supposed to stake then the next person to be the banker will be told to stake any amount he want and then become the banker.

How It Works

If the banker bet $1000 and the total amount stakes by all layers equal the amount in bank which is $1000. Then, the winner of the round is the banker. 5 percent of the total bets ($2000) will be that of the casino with the banker being the owner of the remaining amount. The remaining amount ($1950) is what is required of the banker to stake if he wish to continue acting as the banker. Let used $1600 as the total amount the player staked in the second round. Since the amount in bank is more than this, the croupier will remove the difference and keep it for the banker. In this round if the winner is the banker, the casino will removed its 5% commission and the total amount remaining will be $3120. For the next round in case the banker want to continue, he can collect the money the croupier is keeping for him and add it to the amount in the bank. In the case where he did not add it and the players matched the same amount in the bank in the third round. If the banker win, then he will have $6084 after the casino remove its 5% commission. If the banker decided not to play again, then he will collect the $350 the croupier is keeping for him. The banker will then walk away with a total of $6434. The player to the right of the retiring banker will have the chance to be the next banker if he can match the last amount in bank before the banker retired. This will be passed in anti-clockwise motion until a player matched the amount. If a player matched it and other players staked a total of $4600. The croupier will help the banker keep the difference. If thе banker lose, all the players will received their money and the banker will only receive the amount he kept with the croupier. Then the opportunity to be the banker will be pass to the next person that was supposed to be the banker after the retired banker. Then he can stake any amount he want and that is how the game will move turn by turn.

Some casinos do not give the next player after the retired banker the direct opportunity to be the next banker. It will be the player with the highest bid that will be allow to be the next banker.

Also whenever a player say banco and peradventure he lose the round, he can still exercise the banco in the next round by saying banco suivi. Also, whenever, there is matter that concern all the players, the player with the highest has the authority to decide for them all. This player is referred to as the punter or active player.

Another major difference between this game and Punto Banco is the inability of players to decide which side they want to stake on.

Gameplay

The sharing of the card will be done by the banker by giving the active player the first card. The card to be given must not be disclosed then the banker give a card also for himself. Then give the active player another card as the second one with him taking one also. The player will look at his cards and if the hand value is either eight or nine, then he will disclose it. If the card is eight he will say la petite and la grande for nine. Then the banker will disclose his card. In a situation whereby the hand value is equal a tie has occurred. However, if one is more the other, the highest value will be the winner.

In a case whereby the active player check the hand value and it happened to be less than, he have the option to decide either to collect additional card or to play on with the two cards. To collect additional card he will say carte and to continue with the two cards he will say non or pas de carte. The player will say carte whenever he is the only one betting against the banker and when the hand value is 0. In the case where other players bet with the active player against the banker then he is expected to say carte if the hand value is four or less. If the hand value is six or seven then the player will say non. The player can decide to have additional card or not when the hand value is five.

The banker will then check for his cards hand value when the active player has called for additional card. If the hand value is eight or nine then the banker will be the winner of the round. However, if the value is less than eight, the banker will give the active player additional card that the value will disclosed. Then the player add it to his card to make the hand value. The banker also have the option to take another card or can decide against it.

The banker can only draw a card without the active player asking for an additional one when he has a hand value less than or equal to five. The banker must draw a card when he has a hand value of zero, one or two if the active player asked for additional card. If the banker has a hand value of seven, then he must not take an additional card. Once the player is given a third card and the banker has a hand value of three, four, five, or six.

After all that, the cards of both the player and the banker will be disclosed. Anyone with the highest value will then become the winner. But, the players’ bets will be given back if the values are tie.

Baccarat à Deux Tableaux (Baccarat Banque)

According to history and evidences, the first Baccarat that existed is Baccarat Banque. It was first recorded as far back as 19th century. Although in some place another name for Punto Banco is Baccart Banque, but Baccarat à Deux Tableaux is only for this version of Baccarat.

About the Game

Baccarat Banque is different from Chemin de Fer when it comes the number of spaces to be occupied. This requires only 3 fifty-two card decks and also the banker is constant with more freedom to make decisions. One single person will keep acting as the bank until he intentionally retire, lose all his money or there is no more card.

These consist of 2 active players and a banker therefore, a division of the table used into two. One half will at the banker right hand side and the other will be at his left. Some players will fill the spaces on the right whereas others will fill the left one. At the banker’s right hand side one active player will be there to receive the card for that side. The left side will also have an active player that will receive the card. After dealing the cards, the banker will be dealing with the two sides like 1 against 2. The shuffling of the card is first done by the game banker. Then the players will have the opportunity to shuffle it too. However, the last person that shuffles the card last can be the banker if he wanted to. The cutting of the cards can be done by the spectator or a player depending on whom the banker chooses.

Staking

This manner of staking is such that amount the players will stake will not exceed that of banker. Also, the wager can be done by the players based on their different sides according to some casinos or either side according to other casinos. Then the players will stake their money with the staking staring from the right. If the total player stakes is lesser than the banker’s bet then, the spectator can also stake.

Whenever a player calls banco as seen in Chemin de Fer. The bets will divided into half and made by each player if peradventure 2 players say banco. In a case where there are 2 players or more that say banco, then priority will be given to the first two players to say it when counting in an anti-clockwise manner. In this case also when a player say banco and lose. He has the automatic right to use the banco again by saying banco suivi. The first person on each sides of the banker will be the player that is active for each side. Once the banker emerge as the winner the active player positions will be passed to the player that is next in an anti-clockwise direction for each side.

Gameplay

To start the game the banker will first give the player at his right side the card without disclosing it, next the player on his left side and then himself. Then the three of them will check for the hand value of eight or nine. Once someone has either the two they will all need to disclose their card. If it is the banker that has eight or nine then he is the winner. If it is the players’ that have either eight or nine then the banker will pay them back their bets. If the hand value is the same that means a tie exist and they will both share the money. When the hand value of the players’ are less than 8 and that of the banker is also less than 7 then the players that are active will decide. The decision is whether to ask for an additional card or not which will be disclosed adventure when they ask for it. It is a must for the player to be dealt with a card whenever the hand value is less than or equal to four. In a case where the hand value is either six or seven, the player is expected to play using the 2 cards that he/she is dealt with. But, when the player is in possession of a hand value of five then he has the freedom to select whether to play on with the two cards or collect the third one.

In this same situation the banker also has freedom of choice. He can decide to play with the two cards or ask for a third card unlike Punta Banca. The decision to be made by the banker will be based on what he has observed. Once a decision is made by the banker to receive the third card and gotten it. Then all the cards will be disclosed. The banker card will then be compared with that of the first player then the second player. If the banker has the highest value then he will have all the stakes. If the banker hand value is lesser than the hand value of the player, then he will pay out. But when there is a tie, then the banker will return the initial stakes to the players.

Conclusion

Based on the different version of Baccarat, it is observable that if a player played Punto Banco and win it is because he is lucky. Because, the player cannot make any decision when playing the games. Also, staking on the hand of the dealer seems to be expensive and riskier than staking on the hand of the player most especially when the casino collect an amount that is below five percent as commission.

The older versions of Baccarat offer the players the freedom of choosing how they want to play. However, this freedom can be bad thing because it gives the player more time to make a wrong choice. It is only being a banker that is even more profitable in this case although the casino will charge a commission too once the banker wins.

Therefore, the game is mostly all about luck not strategy. The next result that will be obtained cannot be decided from the previous games. It is an independent event which means the use of a strategy which is based on outcomes of the previous games should not be entertained. There is a pattern that can be used to increase the chance of winning but it is not 100% effective. It involves counting of cards.