During a game of Baccarat, two hands are compared to each other; the Punto hand and the Banco hand. As a player, you are free to bet on any of these hands. You can also elect to bet on there being a tie between Punto and Banco. Once you have made your bet, you don’t make any other decicions at the table. Baccarat is not like Black Jack where each player have their own hand and gets to make decisions concerning it.
Baccarat is played at all stake levels, but is strongly associated with high stakes gambling and some casinos even have special rooms for high-roller baccarat.
Baccarat is a card game played with one or several standard (French) 52 card decks. It is closely related to the game Punto Banco, but Baccarat is considerably older and was invented in Europe, while Punto Banco is a off-shoot of Baccarat that developed in the Americas.
Baccarat is usually played with one, six or eight decks. The decks are of the standard (French) type with 52 cards. No jokers or other wild cards are used in standard Baccarat.
This is the point system for Baccarat:
Examples:
The best possible hand in Baccarat is a hand worth 9 points. The second best is the 8 point hand, followed by the 7 point hand, and so on.
Example:
The Banco hand is a four and a three; 4 points + 3 points = 7 points.
The Punto hand is a six and a Jack; 6 points + 0 points = 6 points.
In this situation, the Banco hand wins, because it is the one closest to 9 points.
If the Banco hand wins, the dealer collects all bets made on Punto and Egalité, and pay out wins for all wagers on Banco.
If there is a tie between Punto and Banco, the dealer collects all bets made on Punto and Banco, and pay out wins for all wagers on Egalité.
As mentioned above, there are situations when a third card will be given to one or both hands. The rules governing this vary from one table to another, so it is important to inform oneself before making any bets.
Below, you will find a set of rules that are fairly common:
Punto
Banco
Always check the paytable before you start betting, because they can vary from one table to the next.
This is one example of a commonly used paytable for Baccarat:
Winner | Payment |
Punto | 1:1 on Punto bets.
Example: You bet €200 on Punto and you are getting paid €200. You now have a total of €400.
|
Banco | 19:20 on Banco bets Example: You bet €200 on Banco and you are getting paid €190. You now have a total of €390. |
Egalité
(There is a tie between Punto and Banco) | 8:1 on Egalité bets
Example: You bet €200 on Egalité and you are getting paid €1,600. You have a total of €1,800. |
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The house always have an edge when you play against the casino. The only exception from this is poker games where you play against other players. You need to be able to walk away from the table when you are up to be able to earn money.