Baccarat has earned quite a reputation in casinos as a game for the high rollers. As such, people sometimes shy away from the Baccarat tables, thinking that it’s a difficult game that’s beyond their reach. This is a common misconception. The gameplay of Baccarat is actually very simple to understand, as there are only three types of bets that a person can make. In fact, Baccarat is one of the few casino games that actually doesn’t have too big of a house edge – unless you consider the tie bet – so it can be rather profitable if you’re lucky and if you’re content to make practical, though sometimes unexciting, bets.

Understanding Baccarat

Baccarat is a game of chance, primarily. So, unlike other casino games like poker and perhaps blackjack, there isn’t much that you can do to strategize. It’s impossible to control the outcome of the hands. This is something that every baccarat player should know from the get go. Why? Because there are people out there who will try to tell you otherwise, leading you on with false hopes. Ask any mathematician and he’ll tell you that there’s little that you can do to orchestrate a win in baccarat except to pray that your luck holds.

That said, let’s move on to the actual mechanics of the game.

The Rules of Baccarat

The game of baccarat is usually played with 8 decks. Aces have a value of 1, while the numbers 2 to 9 come at face value. Face cards and 10’s, on the other hand, amount to zero. The casino game is played between the player and the house and the aim is to guess which hand will come closest to 9. As such, the player has to choose between the three possible bets, namely “Player”, “Dealer”, and “Tie”. Payouts for player and dealer bets are doubled. Payouts for the Tie Bets, on the other hand, is 8:1. Once the player chooses his bet, then the dealer will draw four cards from the deck, separating it into the player and dealer pile. The value of the cards is counted and the one closest to having a value of 9 wins. In the event that the value is higher than 9, then 10 is subtracted. For example, if the hand drawn amounts to 13, then the value would be 3. If the hand drawn is 18, then the value is 8. If it’s a tie, then the pot is split.