How to Play Baccarat

Introduction

One of the card game played on casino, both offline and online, baccarat is quite popular for people who comes from Asia and/or asian people. What really makes people interested in baccarat is the fact that winning odds or house edge is rounded around 1 percent, lower than other similar cards games. Because this kind of game base purely on luck, and played on slow-tempo, a lot of player plays baccarat to reduce their loss/hour ratio. There is 3 kind of baccarat in world at moment :

1. punto banco (“North American Baccarat")
2. baccarat chemin de fer (or "chemmy"), original version of Baccarat, popular in France, dan;
3. baccarat banque (or "à deux tableaux").

The most played version in kasino is puncto banco variant, therefore this guide will cover only this variant. Main purpose of Baccarat is to guess which hand has more point between 2 hands (Player and Banker), there’s also possibility that a turn of baccarat goes to tie and player can bet for this possible outcome, too. This game played using either 4,6 or 8 deck of 52-cards. Baccarat recommended for a new player in bet due to it’s nature.

How to Play

1. Card Value & Term Used on Baccarat

            Value for each card on baccarat described as listed below :

1. Card with number printed on it, have same value as what number printed;
2. Card with human face printed on it plus card with number 10 on is considered as 0 in value;
3. Aces valued at 1;
4. Joker isn’t used;

            Meanwhile, term used on Baccarat are as follows :

• BANCO / BANKER : one of side player can choose to put his bet on.
• PUNTO / PLAYER : opposite side of Banker whom player can put his bet on(too).
• TIE / IMBANG : position whenever banker hands and player hands reach same value.
• DRAW : process of a dealer deal a card to one of the side.
• STANDS : position which stated a side can’t take card anymore.
• DEALER : representative of a casino (offline or online) to deal card for both side and winning bet for bettor.
• SHOE : collective of a number of card decks being used on a game, shuffled and placed on a container.

2. Structure of Baccarat’s Table

            There is 2 kind of table often used on baccarat, just like depicted on picture above. Although there is difference in size the feature on in remains the same, i.e :

• Player’s seat, for player to sit and join in a bet, and as a deciding faktor on how many player that can join this game on a table. Around 7-15 person each table.
• Dealer’s seat, as a place for dealer to supervise the game. On a bigger table there is a caller to help dealer along the course of game.
• Column to place bet, either for puncto (player), banco (banker) or Tie.
• Column to place winning bet from dealer.
• An area to place the shoe on and a printed design indicated where to place cards for both hands

3. Gameplay / Game-flow

1. Baccarat starts with a dealer shuffling a set of card deck (number varies from 4,6 or 8 deck) and put it on shoe.
2. Player/Bettor choose a side to put his/her bet on; it can be on puncto, banco, or Tie. It is allowed for a player to bet more than 1 hand/side at once with different/same bet.

• Payoff for player who bet on either puncto or banco is 1:1;
• While payoff rate for bet placed on Tie is 9:1 (sometimes 8:1);

3. After every bettor placed their bet, dealer will deal card for both side/hands. First card for puncto, 2nd for banco, 3rd for puncto, and last card for banco. Sometimes dealer thrown out a number of card in between.

• Value of each hand determined with a rule as follows : if sum of a hand exceed 10; let’s say 15, those hand valued at 5.

4. Then, dealer will open the card from both hands, and decide whether one hand need to draw third card or not. Need to understand that dealer’s decision is operated based on a fixed rule when he/she draw a card for either side. Draws always start from puncto, and based on value of card being drawn, dealer will decide whether banco needs to draw or not. Bettor doesn’t need to understand this fixed rule to play baccarat, but in case to satisfy your curiosity, here is the rule/protocol :
   1. If value of one hand equal to 8 or 9, then there’s no draw for both hands.
   2. If puncto hand valued from 0 to 5, then dealer deal 3rd card for puncto. If puncto hand valued at 6 or 7, then puncto must stand.
   3. If puncto stands, then banco will apply rule stated on point b to decide draw.
   4. After third card for puncto being dealt, then dealer will decide draw for banco following this set of rule :
      1. If banco hand valued at 0-2, then draw.
      2. If banco hand valued at 3, and if puncto third card isn’t 8, then draw.
      3. If banco hand valued at 4, and if puncto third card is 2,3,4,5,6,7, then draw
      4. If banco hand valued at 5, and if puncto third card is 4,5,6,7, then draw.
      5. If banco hand valued at 6, and if puncto third card is 6,7, then draw.
      6. If banco hand valued at 6, then stands

• Example :
  • Cards dealt for puncto :

• • Cards dealt for banco :

• • Puncto’s third card :

• • Banco’s third card :

• • Result :

                                    Puncto hand value = 2+3+6 = 11 => 1

                                    Banco hand value = 6+0+1 => 7

5. After draw phase finished, dealer and bettor will compare the value of each hands. If puncto hands bigger than banco then anyone who bet on puncto won and get to receive their payoff, vice versa. But there is an exception, if bettor victor when placing their bet on banco then bettor have to pay 4-5% commission to casino and will be directly deducted from bettor winning.

• Example : if you bet $100 on banco and win, then you will got $95-96 as winnings (depends on commission rate) plus your initial bet.

6. After the distribution of each winning and after dealer finish taking loser bet, a coup of baccarat declared over and each player can decide whether continuing the game or take his/her leave from the table.
7. New session starts, and repeat the game-flow from start.