There are numerous casinos where you can play baccarat. While land-based casinos might provide a better and more authentic experience, online casinos are gaining popularity due to their accessibility. Whether you prefer casino chips or you wish to visit modern online casinos and play bitcoin baccarat, one thing is certain — you won’t have any trouble finding a place where you can enjoy this game.
If you have never played baccarat before but would like to learn about it, you’ve come to the right place — we will cover everything you need to know about this game.
Basic Rules of Baccarat
Depending on the casino and the baccarat variant, a standard game features 7 to 14 seats. Unlike in many other casino games, players are not dealt any cards but rather place bets on two card hands — the player’s hand and the banker’s hand.
Baccarat uses standard card decks, with jokers excluded, and each card has its own value. Regular cards ranging from 2 through 9 have their face value, aces are worth 1 point, while 10s, jacks, queens, and kings are all worth 0 points.
The hands are valued depending on the rightmost digit of the sum of every card included in the hand. For example, if a hand is comprised of a 2 and a 4, it has a value of 6. However, if a hand includes a 7 and a 5, their added value is 12, therefore, the hand’s value is 2. Therefore, the highest possible hand value you can get in baccarat is 9.
Determining the Winner
As we’ve mentioned before, every round of baccarat consists of three possible outcomes: player, banker, and tie. In order to win, you need to bet on the hand that’s closest to 9 before the cards are dealt.
Both hands are dealt two cards each. If the player’s hand or the banker’s hand has a sum of 8 or 9, that is called a Natural Win, which means that the round is over and the hand that had a sum of 8 or 9 wins.
Drawing a Third Card
In some cases, either the player’s hand or the banker’s hand will draw a third card. For example, if a player’s hand has a sum of 6 or 7, the hand stands, and no additional cards will be dealt, while the player’s hand draws an additional card if the sum of the cards is anywhere from 0 to 5.
When it comes to the banker’s hand, there are many rules regarding when the bank will draw a third hand, and most of them are a correlation between the bank’s hand value and the value of the player’s third drawn card.
- Hand value of 0, 1, or 2 — The bank draws unless the player has a natural win.
- Hand value of 3 — The bank draws if the player’s third card has a value of 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or 9, while the bank stands if the player’s third card has a value of 8.
- Hand value of 4 — The bank draws if the player’s third card has a value of 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7, while the bank stands if the player’s third card has a value of 0, 1, 8, or 9.
- Hand value of 5 — The bank draws if the player’s third card has a value of 4, 5, 6, or 7, while the bank stands if the player’s third card has a value of 0, 1, 2, 3, 8, or 9.
- Hand value of 6 — The bank draws if the player’s third card has a value of 6 or 7, while the bank stands if the player’s third card has a value of 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, or 9.
- Hand value of 7 — The bank stands.
Conclusion
So there you have it! That covers virtually everything you need to know about playing baccarat. However, one thing to note is that there are many variants of baccarat out there, and while our guide may help you with the general layout of the game, each of those variants comes with a different set of rules, so you should familiarize yourself with the fine print before you decide to play.
Also, don’t forget that baccarat has one of the lowest house edges among casino games (around 1.06% if you’re betting on the banker and 1.24% if you’re betting on the player), which means that casino games make their cut through the 5% commission you pay if you win by betting on the banker.
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