How to Play Baccarat: A Complete Guide to the Rules and Odds

History and Origins

Baccarat is a card game. The origins of the game are a mixture of precursors from China, Japan, and Korea. The game gained popularity in Europe, and a faster French variant emerged. The most common version today is of Cuban origin. Baccarat is now played mainly at casinos, but it was also popular at house parties and private gaming rooms in the past.

Game Structure and Outcomes

Baccarat is a comparing card game played between two hands, the "player" and the "banker". Each baccarat coup, or round of play, has three possible outcomes: "player" (player has the higher score), "banker", and "tie". In the United States, the most played version of baccarat is punto banco. 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". This is in contrast to more historic baccarat games where each hand is associated with an individual who makes drawing choices.

Card Values and Scoring

In baccarat, the 2 through 9 cards of any suit are worth face value in points. The 10, jack, queen, and king are worth zero. Aces are worth one point. Jokers are not used in the game. The value of a hand is the units digit of the sum of the constituent cards, which is known as modulo ten arithmetic. A hand consisting of 2 and 3 is worth five. A hand consisting of 6 and 7 is worth three, which is the value of the units digit in the combined point total of thirteen. The highest possible hand value in baccarat is nine.

Drawing Rules and Tableau

If neither the player nor the banker is dealt a total of 8 or 9 in the first two cards, which is known as a "natural", the tableau is consulted. The tableau is consulted first for the player's rules and then for the banker's rules.

For the player's rules, if the player has an initial total of 5 or less, they draw a third card. If the player has an initial total of 6 or 7, they stand.

For the banker's rules, if the player stood pat with only two cards, the banker regards only their own hand and acts according to the same rule as the player. The banker draws a third card with a total of 5 or less and stands with a total of 6 or 7.

Betting Odds and House Edges

Punto banco has some of the lowest house edges among casino table games and some of the highest. The player bet has a low house edge of 1.24% relative to most casino bets. The banker bet, which accounts for a 5% commission on the win, has a house edge of 1.06%. The tie bet pays 8-to-1 and has a high house edge of 14.4%. In some casinos in the United Kingdom, the tie is paid at 9-to-1, resulting in a house edge of approximately 4.85%. Card counting can be employed to reduce the house edge by about 0.05%.

Table Environment and Records

In the U.S., the full-scale version of punto banco is usually played at large tables in roped off areas or private rooms separated from the main gaming floor. The game is frequented by high rollers who may wager tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars on a single hand. Minimum bets often start at $100 and go as high as $500. Posted maximum bets are often arranged to suit a player. The table is staffed by a croupier who directs the play of the game, and two dealers who calculate tax and collect and pay bets.

Modern baccarat tables often display previous results from the current shoe on scoreboards or "road" recording forms. Common baccarat roads include the Bead Plate Road, the Big Road, the Big Eye Boy, the Small Road, and the Cockroach Road. A 2016 study of Chinese baccarat players described these five methods as standard roads. Casinos in Macau have introduced electronic screens to display shoe history and road records.