Casino Baccarat

Baccarat is an easy game to play, and one of the most popular in the casino, for one simple reason. You can bet on the dealers hand! When you add this to the mystique and intrigue that Baccarat has with casino players, everyone wants to try it, but few people seldom do.

Baccarat Rules

Playing Baccarat is easy. You have to bet on either the players hand, the dealers hand or a tie. The hand that wins is the closest hand to a total of 9. We'll get to how hand totals are calculated in Baccarat shortly.

The game starts with the player and the dealer being dealt two cards each. if these two cards don't give a "Natural", another card is dealt to each hand. A natural is a hand that totals either 8 or 9 with the two cards that have been dealt. At this time, the hands are totaled, and if the dealers hand is higher, bets on the dealers hand win. If the players hand is higher, bets on the players hand win. if the hands are equal, bets on a tie win.

In Baccarat, determining the total of the hands is the only part that tricks up some new players. Determining the total of each hand is quite easy when you get used to how the totals work, but can be a bit hard to catch in a fast casino game without a bit of practice.

In Baccarat, the highest total that a hand can have is 9. Cards from 2 to 9 are taken at face value. 10s, Jacks, Queens and Kings are all valued at 10. Aces are valued at 1. Now I know what you're thinking, if cards can be valued at 10, how can the highest hand total be 9? That's where the tricks come into it.

To determine the final value of a hand in Baccarat, you add the value of the cards together, and if that total is over 9, you remove the leading 10's value from it. A few examples are:

1. A, 6 - Total = 1 + 6 = 7.
2. Q, 9 - Total = 10 + 9 = 19 - 10 = 9.
3. 3, 6, 8 - Total = 3 + 6 + 8 = 17 - 10 = 7.

That's all there is to it. You just have to remember that any time the hand reaches a total of 1 or more, you take 10 off the value of the hand. The same goes if the hand totals 20 or 30. You just take 20 or 30 respectively off the value of the hand.

The best hand that you can have in Baccarat is called a Natural. That is when the hand totals 9 using the first two cards dealt. This hand wins the game automatically, unless the other hand is also a Natural.