How does Baccarat work? If that is the question on your mind, you’ve found the answer to your question. Baccarat is a super-exciting game, full of fascination, suspense, and intrigue. A simple game to learn and play, Baccarat has three possible outcomes: Either the Player wins, the Banker wins or it becomes a tie.

In this article, we are going to answer that question and walk you through the game’s variants, rules, and every other feature you need to know.

What is Baccarat?

Baccarat (also known as Baccara) is a card game played at casinos. The game is over 500 years old and originated in Italy. After the Italians conquered France, it soon became a popular game played in casinos.

Baccarat is played by comparing games and this happens between two hands, the “player” and the “banker”. Each Baccarat coup (also known as a round of play) has three possible outcomes: “Player” (who has the higher score), “Banker”, and “tie”.

How Does Baccarat Work?

The game, Baccarat has three popular variants namely: punto banco, baccarat chemin de fer, and baccarat banque.

Punto Banco: In punto banco, each player’s moves are forced by the cards the player is dealt. It is a game where instead of players playing against each other, they play against the bank which is quite similar to blackjack. The main objective is to obtain nine points or get as close to nine as possible. The most fun part about this game is the collaboration between players. Since players do not have any influence over each other’s game whatsoever, punto banco creates a sense of solidarity between them.

How to Play Punto Banco

In Punto Banco, the cards are worth a certain number of points:

Zero points: king, queen, jack, ten
One point: ace
Face value: all cards two to nine

The maximum number of points is nine. If your total exceeds nine, then you should know that only the last digit counts. This means, that if you, for example, have a total of 11 points, this conclusively arrives at one. There are three ways to place a bet:

Punto: Here, the payout equals your bet.
Banco: payout equals your bet unless banco wins with a score of six points. In the latter case, bets pay out at 2:1.
Equality: a less likely scenario, where the bets pay out at 8:1

Four cards are alternately dealt by the croupier. Two cards are placed in the Punto area and two in the Banco area. Whoever obtains nine points or gets closest to nine points wins.

Rules For Playing Punto Banco

Just like any other game or game variant, in this case, punto banco has rules and they are as follows:

The player plays against the House.
The player must place their bets prior to any cards being drawn. No bets can be changed or altered after any cards have been drawn.
Punto Banco is played with 8 decks of 52 cards.
Tens, court cards, or any other combination of cards with a joint count of ten, count as nothing (Bacarat). An Ace is counted as one; all other cards have their face value.
The wagers are valid for one coup only.
Any player may wager with the Bank (Banco) or against the Bank (PUNTO/PLAYER) at any time but may not wager on both.
Players may also wager that both hands will have the same total. This is called an Egalite wager (any tie bet) and is a standalone bet.
Only players with a Bank, Punto, and any Tie bet may wager on the individual Egalites.
When all the required cards have been drawn, the hand nearest to 9 will be declared the winning hand. All bets associated with this hand will be lost and surrendered to the House.
The minimum number of cards to each hand is two and the maximum is three.
A winning bet that is wagered with the Bank/Banco is paid 19-20 odds.
A winning bet that is wagered with the Punto/Player is paid even money.
If both hands have the same total, Egalite is declared and any Bank or Player bets have deemed a standoff.
Any Tie Bet wagers are paid at odds of 9 to 1, unless there are other specifications.

Baccarat Chemin De Fer: chemin de fer, also called Shimmy, or Chernay, the French card game is played mainly in European and Latin American Casinos. The game is played by up to 12 players, on a kidney-shaped table. The main objective is to total 9 with a hand of two or three cards. When the card totals in a two-digit number, the first digit is ignored. Meaning that 14 would count as 4. Ace counts as 1, number cards at face value, and picture cards as 10 (this count as 0).

Chemin de fer derives from the Italian game Baccarat, differing from it in that players bet one at a time against each other instead of betting against the house. The one who holds the bank sets aside an amount he or she is willing to risk and that covers the bets of the opponents. It is fundamentally different from Punto Banco.

How to Play Chermin de Fer

There are two squares on the table in Chemin de Fer. The first one, titled Banque is designated for the bets on the Banker, the second one is titled Reliquat and this serves for the part of the banker’s bet, which is not covered by players. In the middle of the table, there is a slot for placing used cards and which is called Panier, and another slot is called Cagnote for the casino’s 5% baccarat commission of the winning bets.

At the beginning of the game, the cards are shuffled by a croupier and then by the players in order. Finally, the cards are reshuffled by the croupier and the player on his left side splits the deck with a blank card.

The player sitting on the right side of the croupier, who is based in the middle of the table is the first to be the Banker. The other participants of the game are the Players. The players take turns in the role of the Banker. The Banker puts out an amount, which he has to be willing to risk. In the process of playing the game, each player may announce Banco! And go all-in against the bank and this can be done by one player only. When more players do this, the attention is given to the player at the right hand of the Banker and he can call Banco Prime.

If no player announces Banco, each of them bets one by one at their discretion. If the bank is not covered by the players’ bets, then they can be covered by the best of the spectators around the table. If by any chance, the bets exceed the bank, the Banker may agree to raise the bank. If not, the redundant bets are removed from the table in the opposite playing order.

Rules For Playing Baccarat Cher De Fer

The wager placed by the Banker shall:

Win if the Banker’s Hand” has a point count higher than that of the “Player’s Hand”
Lose if the Banker’s Hand has a point count lower than that of the “Player’s Hand”.
Be void if the point counts of the “Banker’s Hand” and the “Player’s Hand” are equal.
The player who makes the highest bet is chosen to represent all players, meaning, he plays the hand for all players who bet on the Player.
The Player and the Banker look at their cards. If any of them or both has a total of 8 or 9, he announces so and shows down the cards and the game is decided immediately.
0-4 is a draw, 6 or7 stands, and 8 or 9 is a win out of the hand

A Choice: As it was said earlier, the cards are dealt face down hence, making them invisible to the opponent. If the player by any chance demands to draw a third card, he announces Carte (a card). The player shows his card after the Banker has shown his own cards. If there is a total of 5, then in the game, there is a choice between drawing a card and standing.

If it happens that the Banker knew that the Player’s total is 5, he would adapt his decision accordingly. The additional cards are always drawn face up, because in this stage, the initial hands shown is determined by whether the third card is drawn or not.

The games and rules are carefully watched by the croupier, so you do not need to worry about the rules being followed by other players.

Baccarat Banque: Being the banking counterpart of Chemin de Fer, Baccarat Banque was played at the same time in France and could be considered the first banking casino version of baccarat that is still played today. The game’s bank is always held by the Casino.

How to Play Baccarat Banque

This gameplay is fairly similar to Chemin de Fer with some small dissimilarities. Mainly, the fact that players take turns taking turns to be the bank, they do not play against each other and the player who is playing the Banker for the round doesn’t have to cover the other players’ bets.

In the game of Baccarat Banque, the person who has made the largest wager remains the Banker until the role has been fully played or the player has played out their bankroll and cannot continue to place any bets. One of the first things to know is that Baccarat Banque is played with three decks of cards.

To begin the game, the dealer will shuffle the cards between each round. The players on the left and right of the dealer then shuffle the cards again. The final person to shuffle the cards is the Banker. The Banker then chooses a player to cut the cards with a cut card. Then the dealer deals a card to all players on the left and right table and finally to the Banker. There is no Tie-Bet in this version of baccarat. The Bankers can only bet on Banker positions while the other players can bet on both player positions. The player who has placed the largest bet will be in charge of that side’s hands

If neither of the hands are a natural, then the player and the Banker can decide to draw an additional card.

In terms of betting, the players’ bet cannot be greater than the total of the Banker.

Rules For Playing Baccarat Banque

Howbeit simple baccarat banque is, there are some rules that you must follow for fair gameplay:

The total sum of the players’ bets cannot exceed the total wager of the Banker.
Each player can “go Bank” up to three times and if they don’t succeed after the third time, they lose the right to claim the role again. If the challenge is successful, they can then assume the Banker role.
Eight or nine makes a natural win.
When all cards are drawn and the hand is complete, the round is settled and all bets are paid out.

Conclusion

Baccarat is a fun and intriguing casino game and we hope this article gives you the insight you need to have a wonderful gaming experience. Keep in mind that if either a player or banker is dealt a total of eight or nine, both the Player and Banker stand, if the Player’s total is five or less, then the player will receive another card. Otherwise, the player will stand, and If the player stands, then the banker hits on a total of 5 or fewer. Those are the most basic rules you need to excel in this casino.