Baccarat is a very popular French game that is traditionally played by high rollers at the casino. Games of baccarat used to dictate whether casinos won or lost fortunes, and were the preserve of the ultra rich. Nowadays most casinos offer mini baccarat and allow all players to play with smaller stakes. At online casinos, you certainly do not need a lot of money to play. The game is very much a game of chance. There are no player decisions involved, and only a single betting round to place bets. There is no bluffing, just tension as the cards in the players and bankers hands are revealed.

The mechanics of baccarat

Baccarat is a very simple game – there are two other versions which involve player choice but are less popularly favoured by the casinos. The version that is discussed here is Punto Banco which is the most widely played version. In this game, there are two hands – the player hand and the banker hand. The 'player' hand is very different from the bettors, which is discussed later. Essentially the player and the banker play against each other, and there are side bets on which one will come out on top. This game was traditionally played by a mega high roller who pit his fortunes against that of the casino – other casino patrons would bet feverishly on just who would win!

Now onto the actual mechanics! Two cards are dealt to the banker and the players hand. The aim of the game is to score closest to the maximum score of 9. If the hand scores a certain value, the the hand gets an additional card in an attempt to score closer to 9. The hand that is closest wins the game. In that case, that hands wins the bet, and the bettors who bet on that hand also win their bets.

The scoring of baccarat

The scoring is easy to remember in baccarat – all the number cards are worth their numerical values with the exception of 10, which is worth 0. The Ace is worth 1. All the picture cards (Jack, Queen and King) are worth 0 as well. The values of the two initial cards are added together to give the total value of the hand. If the total value exceeds 9, then the units value of the total is given as the score. A value of 12 (for example, scored with a 9 and a 3) scores a value of 2. A value of 5 can be scored by an 8 and a 7 (which total 15).

Certain values in the player and bankers hand demands that an additional card is added. For the players hand a value between 0 and 5 demands another card. For example, if the two cards sum up to be 4, then an additional card is given – if this card is 8, then the end score is 2 (4 + 8 = 12 which is converted to 2). The banker has similar rules to dictate whether they stand or take another card.