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Introduction

Baccarat is the oldest of all games that have been played in modern casinos. With the European games of chemin de fer and punto banco being its immediate ancestors, baccarat is a game of conundrums to most of the betting public even though it is a most fundamental game of American casinos. With the help of this article, you can unriddle the secrets of baccarat and even learn how to end up on the winning side.

Objective
The objective of baccarat is to choose a hand that holds two or three cards with the total value of the cards being closer to nine than the banker’s cards.
Baccarat Rules
 Baccarat is played on a specially designed table which can accomodate up to fourteen players around it. Players are required nothing but to bet on three choices : The Player’s hand, the Banker’s hand, or a Tie. A player will win if he chooses to bet on a hand that is closest to 9 than the other hand. A bet on the Player pays off even money i.e.1:1. A bet on the Banker also pays off even money minus a 5% house commission. A bet on a Tie pays off 8:1.
Baccarat Play

·        Two hands are dealt, consisting of  two cards.

·        The player hand gets the 1^st and 3^rd card while the banker gets the 2^nd and 4^th card.

·        The player decides whether to bet on the punto, banco or on a tie.

·        Two cards are placed face down under the dealer shoe.

·        Two cards are dealt face down to the player with the highest bet on the punto.

·        The cards are looked at by this player and returned to the dealer.

·        The cards are turned over.

·        The results and winners are announced

Card values

·         Cards with a denomination of 10 and face cards(the royals,jack,queen,king) have a value of zero .

·         Cards with denomination of 2 to 9 have a value equal to their face value.

·         If the total value of cards in a hand is a two digit number the first digit is discarded.For eg if the sum is 13 then 1 is discarded and the sum now becomes 3.

·         A natural is when either of the hands are dealt a 9 or 8 in which case no more cards are drawn and the hand having 9 as the sum wins.(9 being greater than 8 )

·         If  both hands have same value then there is a tie.

·         If a natural or a tie is not reached after the first two cards have been dealt than a third card is drawn depending on a few circumstances.

When to dealt a third card?
The following rules are used while deciding whether a third card is dealt to both sides in a game of baccarat:
Player's third-card-rule

• If either the player’s hand or the banker’s hand have a total value of 8 or 9 on the first two cards no further cards are dealted.
• If the player's hand total has a value lesser than or equal to 5 the player's hand draws a third card.
• If the player does not draw a third card, then the banker's hand stands on 6 or more and takes a third card on a total of 5 or less. If the player  dealts a third card then the Bank's third-card-rule will determine if the bank takes a third card or not.

Banker's third-card-rule

• If the banker's total is 2 or lesser than 2  then a third card is dealt to banker’s hand, regardless of what the player’s third card is.
• If the banker’s total is 3 then a third card is dealt to banker’s hand unless the player’s third card was 8.
• If the banker’s total is 4 then a third card is drawn by banker unless the player’s third card was a 0, 1, 8, or 9.
• If the banker’s total is 5 then a third card is dealt to banker’s hand if the player’s third card was 4, 5, 6, or 7.
• If the banker’s total is 6 then a 3^rd card is dealt to banker’s hand if the player’s third card was a 6 or 7.

Tips and strategies

Although baccarat is purely a game of chance and luck ,a few strategies could help you to minimize your losses in the game

·        Just familiarize yourself with the third card rule , no need to put your toil in learning it and loosing your focus.

·        .Just because you need to pay a commission of 5% if you win a banker’s hand don’t put yourself off on betting on banker’s hand as it has the most chances of winning.

·        Though  a tie pays out maximum but avoid betting on it as it has the least chances.

·        Try finding a casino which uses less than 8 decks as it increases your chances.

·        Use money management properly i.e. don’t make large bets nor increase your bets while loosing money.

·        Learn to quit if you have a good winning.