Baccarat Rules

Baccarat is a thrilling card game which was featured as a plot device in the James Bond novel Casino Royale by author Ian Fleming. Its origin is from Italy during the period of the middle ages and derives its name from the Italian word for "zero", due to the fact that the face cards and Tens, which normally are high value cards in most games, are accounted as zeros in the game of Baccarat. At some point it migrated to France where it was embraced by the French aristocracy. Today, Baccarat is a favorite game of high rollers and famous gamers all over the world.

The object is to bet on which of two hands (the "Player" or the "Banker") has a score closest to 9. You can choose to bet on either hand, or you can bet on a tie.

Dealing and Scoring

The game of Baccarat is played with a single deck of 52 cards (Jokers are not used), which are shuffled after each hand and placed in a "shoe." Each hand receives a minimum of two cards, but never exceeds three cards. The first and third cards which are dealt from the shoe constitute the Player's hand and the second and forth cards constitute the Banker's hand. If necessary, a third card is dealt to either hand, according to specific rules outlined in the charts below. All cards are dealt with their faces up.

Card values are:

• Face cards and tens count as 0;
• Aces count as 1,
• All other cards count as face value.

The score of each Hand is made up from the last digit of the sum of the card values in the hand. Therefore, a hand with an 8 and a 9 would have a score of 7 (since 8 + 9 = 17). This is the reason why Tens and Face cards count as zero – only the last digit counts, so a card with a 10 has a value of zero. The scores will always range from 0 to 9 and, unlike Blackjack, it is impossible to bust.

Examples of point scoring:

• Example 1: 9 + 0 = 9, the score of this hand is 9.

  

   

• Example 2: 4 + 0 + 9 = 13, the score of this hand is 3.

  

A Natural

Since the object of each hand is getting as close to 9 as possible, getting a score of 8 or 9 with the first two cards is considered a good thing. This is referred to as a "Natural" and if EITHER hand scores a Natural, BOTH hands are required to stand. Naturally (pardon the pun), the only score which beats a Natural 8 is a Natural 9.

Game Play

Two cards are dealt face up to both the Player and the Banker. If one hand consists of a Natural, that hand wins. If both hands have a Natural, the higher Natural wins. If both hands have an exact Natural, it's a tie.

If neither the Player nor the Banker has a natural, then play goes to the Player.

The Player's hand stands on a score of 6 or 7. If the score is less than 6, the Player draws one card and receives a new score based on the value of all three cards.

Playing rules for the Player

Now it's the Banker's turn. When the Player stands on either a 6 or a 7 (and thus did not draw a third card), the Banker's play is rather straightforward. The Banker must draw on scores of 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 and stand on 6 or 7.

Play rules for the Banker when Player Stands on 6 or 7

However, if the Player manages to draw a third card, the Banker's play will get more interesting. In this case, the Banker stands on a score of 7 but draws or stands on scores of 6, or less, depending on the value of the Player's THIRD CARD (not on the score of the Player's HAND). The rules governing whether the Banker draws or stands are as follows:

Playing rules for the Banker when Player Draws a Third Card

Winning

• The hand with the highest score nearest to nine wins.
• Winning bets on the Player's hand are paid at 1-to-1.
• Winning bets on the Banker's hand are also paid at 1-to-1. However, a winning Banker bet pays a commission of 5% to the House. Each time you win while betting on the Banker, 5% of the winning amount are automatically deducted from your Account balance.
• If both hands result in equal scores, the Tie bet wins, paying 8-to-1. When a tie occurs, all bets on either the Player or the Banker are a push (neither paid nor taken).