Baccarat earned its reputation as a game played by the über wealthy thanks to its past connection with the French aristocracy, for whom it became a near obsession in 15th century. This longstanding association with elite high rollers was then augmented by the fact that the game did not arrive in North America until the early 1900s. As a result, it struggled to catch on in the face of competition from blackjack, which appeared in the U.S. and Canada around the same time and offered far better odds.
And yet in the five centuries since its invention baccarat has undergone its fair share of changes. For one thing, players originally had to play the game in casinos and gambling halls, and they had to bet large amounts of money on it to ensure that the house made a profit. Even into the 20th century casinos often placed velvet ropes around their baccarat tables or positioned them in their high-roller areas because the game has the third-smallest vigorish, or house edge, behind craps and blackjack. This ploy worked well until the advent of Internet gambling and the launch of a new version of the game, “mini-baccarat,” both of which chipped away at the game’s longstanding air of mystery. Now, many online casinos offer free baccarat,* providing everyone the option of risk-free play.
*Note: By “free baccarat” we mean any game of baccarat offered by an online casino that you can bet on using play-money chips.
Compared to blackjack, which boasts the possibility of players gaining an edge on the house, baccarat can seem a little lackluster. It has remained relatively popular, though, primarily because it has the most straightforward rules of any casino game. Basically, one or more players bet on either the “banker’s” hand or the “player’s” hand. The “banker” and “player” are types of bets, not to be confused with the people betting and the person dealing. A good way to think of this is that you are betting on a boxing match where the boxers’ names happen to be “Player” and “Banker.” The object of baccarat, then, is like boxing: You want your boxer to rack up more points than his opponent – except in this case your boxer is a hand of two to three cards and he scores points according to the point values of the cards he comprises, not the number of punches he lands.
The player and the banker each receive two cards at the start of each hand, beginning with the player. The dealer then deals a third card depending on the player’s and banker’s point totals. The highest number of points in the game is nine, and anything more than that starts the count over. At the end of the game, the hand closest to nine points wins.
Baccarat point values are also extremely easy to understand. Tens and face cards have a value of zero. All other cards (ace through 9) are worth their face value with aces representing one point, not 11. Once the value of a bet’s two or three cards exceeds 10, 10 points are subtracted from the total score. So, for example, when the player’s hand shows a 9 and a 5, resulting in a total score of 14, he subtracts 10 points to find his true point total: four.
Baccarat’s rules prescribe that a third card be dealt if:
In conjunction with these two rules, there are also several instances when the player or banker will not receive a third card:
Finally, there is a third bet in baccarat that allows you to wager that the banker and player will tie. This bet pays 8 to 1 because it’s nearly as rare as a walking tuna. Well, OK, so maybe it’s not that rare, but its real odds are about 11 to 1. This means that if you place money on a tie every hand over a long period of time you’ll lose an average of $3 for each bet you make.
As you can see, baccarat is extremely easy to learn. Only three betting options exist, and there are only two hands to watch. What’s more, mastering the game takes only a little practice – which you can easily get from playing free baccarat.
- Gerald Hanks
phill.provance@gamblingplanet.org
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