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objective of baccarat is for the players
to correctly guess which of three possible
propositions will win on the next round:
Bank, Player, or Tie. Two cards are
dealt to the Bank hand and two cards
are dealt to the Player hand. Sometimes
a third card is dealt to either or both
hands. Whichever hand is closest to
nine is the winner. The game is usually
dealt from a six- or eight-deck shoe.
All tens, jacks, queens and kings equal
zero. The ace equals one. All the other
cards equal their face value. Thus a
nine equals nine, a two equals two and
so forth.
After the Bank and Player hands have
received two cards it is possible
that either or both might need to
draw an extra card. The rules for
drawing cards are predetermined and
essentially irrelevant since the players
do not get to make any decisions.
Regardless of whether a card is drawn,
at the end of the deal, the hand that
totals nine or closest to nine wins.
A winning Player hand is paid off
at one to one. Thus, if you bet ten
dollars, you win ten dollars. A winning
Bank hand is paid off at .95 to one.
This means that if you bet ten dollars,
you win $9.50.
Another way to look at the Bank wager
is to consider it a one-to-one payout
minus a five percent commission on
winning bets. This commission is collected
after the shoe is finished.
The Tie hand is paid at eight to
one. Thus a winning tie bet of $10
will return $80. If you bet on either
Bank or Player and the Tie wins, you
do not lose your bet. It is a push.
The Tie bet has a 14.1 percent edge
in favor of the casino. The house
has a 1.36 percent edge on the Player
bet and a 1.17 percent edge on the
Bank bet when the bank charges a five
percent commission.
Baccarat Winning Systems
Choose which hand you choose to
play, the player's hand (pays 1:1),
the banker's hand (pays 1:1 less a
5% house commission), or a tie (pays
8:1). The player and the banker then
receive 2 cards each. The object of
the game is to attain a total as close
to 9 as possible. Aces are worth 1,
face care and tens are worth 0 the
remaining cards are worth their face
value. If the total of the hand exceeds
nine, the value of the right digit
is taken. For example, a 9 and a 6
(15) would equate to 5.
The rest of each round is dictated
by the following rules:
If either the player's or the banker's
hand totals 8 or 9, neither player
receives a third card and the hand
closest to nine wins.
If the player stands, the banker will
also hit on a total of 5 or less and
will stand on a total of 6 or more.
If either the player's or the banker's
hand totals 8 or 9, neither player
receives a third card and the hand
closest to nine wins.
The player's hand will always hit
on a total of 5 or less and will stand
on 6 or higher.
If the player stands, the banker will
also hit on a total of 5 or less and
will stand on a total of 6 or more.
If the player takes a third card,
the banker proceeds based on the following
table. The banker's response is based
on the player's third card.
If the hand ends up tied, the tie
bet pays 9:1 and all other bets are
pushed back.
The drawing of cards in baccarat
is purely a matter of chance. Any
tips that you get for this part of
the game will be bogus. In fact the
better side is pure chance as well,
a novice has the same chance as an
experienced player.
The best tips we can give you then
are the odds so you can keep these
in mind when you're on a roll or starting
to bet.
If you want to bet on the player
hand just put your money in the area
marked "player". A will
get you $1 for every $1 you bet. The
casino advantage on the player bet
is about 1.36%
If you want to bet on the banker
hand, place your bet in the area marked
"banker". If you win, you
will get even more money as well,
but you'll have to pay a 5% commission
on the amount you win. So, if you
won $10 on your bet, you would owe
a $.50 commission to the house. The
5% commission is only required if
you win and not if you loose. The
dealer will keep track of the amount
you owe by putting equal amount in
a small area on the table that corresponds
to your seat number at the table.
So, if you're sitting at seat #3 and
won $10 on the bank hand, the dealer
would pay you $10 and the put $.50
in the #3 box. This lets him know
how much you owe the casino in commissions
and when you get up to leave the table
you'll have to pay the dealer whatever
amount is in that box. After adjusting
for that 5% commission the casino
advantage on the banker bet is 1.17%.
Finally, if you place your bet in
the area marked "tie" and
if you win you'll be paid at 8-to-1,
or $8 for every $1 you bet. The big
payoff sounds nice but actually this
is a terrible bet because the casino
advantage is very high, 14.1% and
this bet should never be made unless
you feel extraordinarily lucky. Still,
sometimes you just have to take the
big risks to net the big wins.
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