Learning the Basics of Baccarat

Baccarat Casino Game

Often confused with craps, baccarat is a casino game that is more than interesting to play than any other gambling forms. It literally stands out because of its high rollers and its exclusivity in terms of availability to high-class and elegant casinos only. Due to this, beginners develop reservations towards the game, thinking that it is ideally played infancy and first-class secure casinos online.

However, this has changed when the game became available to almost every casino. With this, came the growing number of players who ought to try and ended up patronizing baccarat or Punto Banco as most of them would call it. The game is primarily known for its capacity to cater to as much as 12 to 14 players. Such a large number brings in more excitement to winning the game than basically joining it.

The Story Behind the Game

Since baccarat is a French term which literally means zero, a number of people claim that the game has French roots. However, it is not only the French that began to assert the rights to creating the game. A number of countries also presented themselves as rightful owners of baccarat. It was only when a thorough study was conducted by which the origin of the game has been unearthed. In the early 80s, it was found out that a certain Felix Falguierein, an Italian gambler, demonstrated to play the game using his tarot cards.

When the ancient people saw him, they merely thought that he was simply reading fortunes. Nonetheless, a few men found the game interesting such that they improved the gameplay of Punto Banco, and played the game using the gambling cards. Later on, royalties were intrigued by such a game, hence, turning the game into a form of diversion for royalties in the casino rooms. This explains why the game is linked to elegance and class up to this date.

The Setting of the Game

Baccarat is played with a minimum of three dealers. One of them will act as the croupier who is to stand at the center area of the table so that all the players could readily see him. As mentioned earlier, the game could cater to as much as 12 to 14 players. These players are divided evenly throughout the table. Behind the chip, the rack is the other two dealers. The two dealers are in charge of paying the winning players on every round. Since the game has a large number of players, having two dealers to pay winners roundly is more efficient than having one. The croupier is the one who will lead the game. He is also in charge of verifying the results of every round prior to paying the winning players.

The Mechanism of the Game

It is corollary to a large number of players by which baccarat uses eight decks of cards. Before the game officially starts, the two dealers manually shuffle all of the eight decks together. The croupier, on cue, will take away two decks of cards. He will then lace these two decks in between the rest of the decks before putting all of the cards on a covered “shoe” position. Then, the croupier will request the first player to act as the banker of the game.

The croupier will then take out four cards: the first two will go to the banker’s hand while the other two goes to his hand. All of the players including the first player will then try to guess between the two, who has the card that has a value closest to nine. If the banker holds a higher number than that of the croupier but is less than and close to nine, all of the players who bet on the banker’s hand automatically wins. On the other hand, if the croupier has the bigger card, which is closest to nine, all of the players who didn’t bet on him lose.

The Values of the Cards

Face cards and tens are taken as zero
Aces are taken as one card which, when added, is equal to a number that is greater than nine shall be taken as having the value of the second digit only. Example, when the total is 17, the value is said to be 7 only.