Baccarat
Baccarat or baccara (/ˈbækəræt, bɑːkəˈrɑː/; French: [bakaʁa]) is a card game played at casinos. It is a comparing card game played between two hands, the "player" and the "banker". Each baccarat coup (round of play) has three possible outcomes: "player" (player has the higher score), "banker", and "tie".
This article is about the card game. For other uses, see Baccarat (disambiguation).There are three popular variants of the game: punto banco, baccarat chemin de fer,[1] and baccarat banque (or à deux tableaux). In punto banco, each player's moves are forced by the cards the player is dealt. In baccarat chemin de fer and baccarat banque, by contrast, both players can make choices. The winning odds are in favour of the bank, with a house edge of at least 1 percent.
Valuation of hands[edit]
In baccarat, the 2 through 9 cards (of any suit) are worth face value (in points); the 10, jack, queen, and king have no point value and are thus worth zero; aces are worth one point; jokers are not used. Hands are valued modulo 10; i.e., according to the units digit of the sum of their constituent cards. For example, a hand consisting of 2 and 3 is worth five, while a hand consisting of 6 and 7 is worth three, that being the value of the units digit in the combined point total of thirteen.[11] The highest possible hand value in baccarat is therefore nine.[12]
Versions[edit]
Punto banco[edit]
Punto banco is the most played version of baccarat.[6]: 231 In punto banco, the casino banks the game at all times, and commits to playing out both hands according to fixed drawing rules, known as the "tableau" (French: "board"), in contrast to more historic baccarat games where each hand is associated with an individual who makes drawing choices. The player (punto) and banker (banco) are simply designations for the two hands dealt out in each coup, two outcomes which the bettor can back; the player hand has no particular association with the gambler, nor the banker hand with the house.
Punto banco is dealt from a shoe containing 6 or 8 decks of cards shuffled together; a cut-card is placed in front of the seventh from last card, and the drawing of the cut-card indicates the last coup of the shoe. The dealer burns the first card face up and then based on its respective numerical value, with aces worth 1 and face cards worth 10, the dealer burns that many cards face down. For each coup, two cards are dealt face up to each hand, starting from "player" and alternating between the hands. The croupier may call the total (e.g., "five player, three banker"). If either the player or banker or both achieve a total of 8 or 9 at this stage, the coup is finished and the result is announced: a player win, a banker win, or tie. If neither hand has eight or nine, the drawing rules are applied to determine whether the player should receive a third card. Then, based on the value of any card drawn to the player, the drawing rules are applied to determine whether the banker should receive a third card. The coup is then finished, the outcome is announced, and winning bets are paid out.
Punto banco is a pure game of chance and therefore it is not possible for a gambler's bets to be rationally motivated.[6]: 230