Baccarat: Rules of Play
Baccarat is one of the most common staple offered in casinos. It is high time one starts figuring out how the game should be played so that the mystery of the game will be uncovered for you to enjoy with friends, families and co-players. This happens to be an easy and simple game to play that should be enjoyed by all players.
Game Process
The game uses 8 card decks where players make a bet prior to dealing each hand. If you happen to come across a game of baccarat using a single deck of cards, know that this offers the best wagers. A game of baccarat will usually accommodate a dozen or 14 player at a time. There are three wager choices a player can make on the game namely the hands on baccarat-banker, player and tie. Wagers depend on player's decision on which hand he thinks will win before the cards are dealt. The banker will start holding the shoe then deals cards to the players. Each player will turn over the cards then the cards are called by the croupier.
To understand how the cards are totaled, a player should remember that an ace carries a value of 1 and all cards from 2 to 9 have the same value as what is indicated on the card. All face cards (king, queen, jack) and tens are zeroes. Should the total turn out to be two digits, player should only keep the second digit. An initial total from a perfect hand of 9 + 9 = 18 is actually valued at 8 which is the second digit in this total. The highest hand is the one with a total value closest to a 9.
The banker and players normally get three hands consisting of two cards for every game. Many times, players bet on the banker's hand because of house edge. Wagers on ties will carry odds of 8 to 1 which make a win on this wager highly improbable even if house edge is high at 14%.
Rules for Player and Banker Hands
The player gets to turn his cards facing up first before the banker does the same. A natural refers to a hand with 8 and 9 which makes this hand the winner unless there is a tie. If there is no natural forthcoming from both banker and players, play will resume.
Rules for a player hand are straightforward where they would stand with a hand value of 6-7. Lower than that and player is advised to draw his third card. Bankers will have to follow a more complicated set of rules. The bankers draws on a total of 0-2 but they should stand on 7-9. A hand total of 3 will require the banker to draw if the player gets a third card of 0-7 but stand if it's an 8. If banker total is 4 on his first two cards, he is expected to draw if player gets a third card of 2-7 but stand if player gets 0-1 or 8-9. If banker total shows 5 on the first two cards, he must draw if the third card the player gets is 4-7 but stand if it's 0-3 or 8-9. For a total of 6 on the banker hand, he will draw if the third card the player gets this time is 6-7 but he will stand if the card is of any other value.
This might take a while to understand but continuous play will make this easier to do every time. There's much to enjoy with baccarat and no time to lose.