Baccarat Basics

Baccarat is one of the most revered casino games in the world. It’s a house backed card game that dates back to medieval Italy and has enjoyed a pristine reputation ever since. As a game that’s easy to learn and slow paced, it’s become a staple in online casinos as well as offline ones worldwide. In fact, it was featured in the James Bond film ‘Casino Royale’ which showcases its universal appeal and prestigious image. According to Bill Zender, a former Nevada Gaming Control Agent and long time industry veteran, this swanky card game has exploded in popularity among Asian high rollers.

Basically, players place bets on either the Banker or Player hand. The winning hand is the one with a total closest to nine. This is done by adding up all the pips (the dots on each card that are clubs, diamonds, hearts and spades) and subtracting the tens. Face cards and the number 10 are worth 0 points while aces are worth one. Offline baccarat games are typically played with 8 decks of standard 52-cards while online variants use 6 decks.

Baccarat has many side bets available which vary from place to place but are usually more expensive than the main bets. These include the Super Six bet which pays out if the Banker’s total is six and the Pair bet which wins if the first two cards are a pair. Baccarat also has a Commission bet which is paid to the house for winning bets and is 5% of the winning total.