Learn
Baccarat
Rules & Strategies:
A Primer
by
Frank Scoblete
If you have never played the game before, Learn
Baccarat
Rules &
Strategies
Primer is for you.
Baccarat
Rules: Card
Values
The game is dealt from an eight-deck shoe (sometimes six
decks will be used).
All
tens, jacks,
queens and kings equal zero.
The
ace
equals one.
All other cards equal
their face value.
Highest possible
hand is nine. If you have two 5s, the total would not be a 10 but a
zero.
Baccarat Rules: The
Objective of the Game
The objective of the game 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.
A two-card hand of nine and a two-card hand of eight are
considered naturals and do not take any hits.
However, a two-card hand of nine beats a
two-card hand of eight.
Baccarat
Rules: Procedures
The deal goes counterclockwise around the table from player
to player.
The player who is dealing continues to deal as long as the
Bank
hand keeps winning.
However,
as soon
as a
Player hand wins, the next player gets to
deal.
Thus, the
shoe makes its way around the
table.
Players can
pass up their turn at
dealing if they so wish.
If
you want to
play baccarat and you want to deal but you’re timid, don’t worry.
The casino personnel assigned to the baccarat tables are
always willing to take you through the deals step by step. In
the mini version,
the dealer deals the hands.
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
baccarat rules for drawing cards are
predetermined.
They are also essentially irrelevant since the players do
not get to make any decisions concerning hitting or standing.
Regardless of whether a
card is drawn, at the
end of the deal, the hand that totals nine or closer to nine wins.
Baccarat
Rules: Payouts
for Winning Hands
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 even money with a commission, usually five percent,
extracted on
each win.
This
means that if you bet ten
dollars, you win $9.50.
This commission
is collected after the shoe is finished but you can request to “pay as
you go.”
If you are playing $25 or $75 per hand and are allowed to
“pay as you go,” you might find that the casino will “drop the change,”
(a
winning $25
Bank bet should have $1.25 extracted, a
winning $75
Bank
bet should have $3.75 extracted but some casinos will just take $1 and
$3
respectively in such cases) reducing the bank commission to four
percent and
the Bank’s house edge more than 50 percent.
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
Casino Edge
The
Tie bet is one of the worst bets in
the casino,
so let’s not even consider making it.
Since the
Tie bet
does not
affect the
other two bets,
Player and
Bank, we’ll concentrate on how we arrive at the house edge
for these bets.
The
Player
bet wins 49.32 percent of the time.
The
Player
bet loses 50.68 percent of the time.
Translate that into money and for every $100 wagered on the
Player
bet, you will lose $1.36. ($50.68 minus $49.32 equals $1.36.)
The casino edge is
therefore 1.36 percent.
The
Bank
bet wins 50.68 percent of the time.
The
Bank
bet loses 49.32 percent of the time.
Without any interference, the
Bank bet
would have a
1.36 percent edge in its favor.
If the casinos allowed this to stand, no one would bet
Player
and everyone would bet
Bank until the casinos went
bankrupt.
To avoid this, the casinos charge that five percent
commission on all winning
Bank bets. In actuality,
you only win 95 cents
on the dollar on a winning
Bank wager as stated.
This reverses the
situation and gives the
casino a smallish 1.17 percent edge.
How does a five percent commission reduce the edge to 1.17
percent?
When you lose the
Bank bet, you lose
$49.32 for every
$100 wagered.
But,
when you win the bet,
you win $50.68 X .95 which comes out to $48.15.
Therefore, $49.32 minus $48.15 equals $1.17 lost per $100
dollars wagered. In short, a 1.17 percent edge for the casinos.
The Best
Way to Play
I guess you can say that I am an old-fashioned
stick-in-the-mud when it comes to playing this game. I say bet
Bank
only
and, if you can afford it, do a “pay as you go” at $25 or $75 per round
if the
casino reduces that commission in its desire not to hand out change.
If
you find that $25 (or $75) is too low a bet for the
high-roller room, then you must play mini-baccarat. In that case, you
are going
to have to “con” yourself into making only 40 or so bets per hour to
get the
same game as you would at “maxi”.
You can do this by simply
betting every third or fourth
hand. Or you can do this following some kind of “anti-trend” or “trend”
scheme.
An anti-trend scheme would see three
Player
decisions
in a row occur before you place a
Bank bet. A trend
scheme would see two
or three
Bank bets hit in a row before placing a
Bank
bet. No
matter what you do, reducing the number of decisions is the reason for
doing
it.
You might find that with comps or online bonus promotions, a
reduced commission on the
Bank bets and 40
decisions per hour, the
casino’s actual “monetary” edge over you is nil.
In those
circumstances, baccarat is as easy on you as
hitting a wall at zero miles per hour!
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Baccarat
Rules is followed by Tips
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