Baccarat: Easy to Learn, Easy to Play

Learn Baccarat Card Values and Start Playing

Baccarat tables may not fill up quite as quickly as poker tables or slot machine seats in a live casino, but a number of people find this classic card game challenging and fascinating. It is believed that the game in one form or another made its way to the rest of the world from France, probably in the late 1400s.

It may take a few minutes to get used to the card values, since the 2 through 9 cards are worth face value and the Ace is worth one point. Unlike many other card games, 10s, Jacks, Queens and Kings have no point value. Players simply add up the point total of their cards.

However, the key difference is that the “tens” digit in the total is not used to determine hand value. For instance, if a player has a 6 and a 7, the total is 13. But the points counted for the game = 3. If the card values add up to 10, the point value is 0. In fact that’s where the name “baccarat” comes from. The origins of the word are Italian for “zero.” The highest score available is 9 and the hand closest to that total is the winner.

Newcomers to playing baccarat don’t have to study a long list of complicated rules to get started, though experience will be necessary to be successful over the long term. Some terms that every player should understand from the beginning are Player, Banker and Tie. These common terms are used to define the three betting options in the game. These are also called “banco,” “punto” and “standoff.”

The basics of play include three casino staff members and a dozen players or slightly more. Players act as dealers, with the deal passing from one to another. Of course, a “virtual” dealer distributes the cards in online baccarat. The dealer distributes two hands and bets are placed on which one will win. The dealer places two cards face down under the cardholder (called a shoe) then deals two cards face down to the person with the largest bet on the table for what is known as “punto.”

If either hand has a “natural “9, then no more cards are dealt. The casino staff determines when a third card is dealt, according to the guidelines. These include, but are not limited to: bank total is 2, the bank must take another card; bank total is 3, bank takes another card unless player total is 8; bank total is 7, then bank stands. In essence, the bank gets a third card depending on what the player total is.

Baccarat has acquired an atmosphere of being an elite game, with a specific area separated from the rest of the casino by velvet ropes. Casinos have tried to attract “high rollers” for centuries with the idea of exclusivity. But, in reality, the game is very simple and requires little or no skill. The player who receives a two-card hand because of his or her bet simply hands the cards back to a casino “dealer” and the staff determines who wins. If you are new to baccarat, take a few minutes to learn how to total the cards and when a third card is mandatory. Then it’s time to play.