No Tie Fun
Baccarat is one of the oldest known card games. Also, it is considered one of the easiest card games in history. It is fun, fascinating and has the simplest rules ever. No wonder it became so popular. It suits experienced players as well as complete newbies. So how to play baccarat? What tricks are there? Let’s figure it out.
Baccarat is played with a card deck of 52 cards, from two to ace. Each card has a certain value. Cards from 2 to 9 are worth from 2 to 9 points, respectively. All face cards are worth 0 points. And an Ace is worth 1 point. The main goal of Baccarat is to guess who, the player or the dealer, will get a combination of cards worth 9 or the closest to it, and to make a bet on your guess.
There are three variants of bets possible. You may bet on the player's victory, on the banker’s victory, or you can bet on a draw. So if you bet on the player, your guess is that the player will get a card combo worth 9, if you bet on a banker you suppose it would be the banker who gets the 9. If you bet on a draw, it means you believe the player and the banker will get the same number of points after the cards are dealt.
How to bet in baccarat? Nothing easier! Most online baccarat games look exactly the same. You see a felted table with a deck of cards to your right and three betting areas at the bottom of the table. One is marked ‘Player’, the other one in ‘Banker’ and the one that is left is ‘Tie’. At the bottom of the screen there is usually the user’s interface.
Here, you may choose the value and the number of chips for betting. The value usually varies. As a rule, the cheapest chips are worth 1 or 5 credits. Then, there are some chips of median value, worth 10 credits. Chips worth 25 or 100 are the tops at baccarat. But it’s a generally. There might be some exceptions.
As you can see, the betting range suits players with drastically different bankrolls. While betting, don’t forget about table limits. There is usually a sign with table limits right on the betting table somewhere. If not, you can find them in the help section.
Well, now, after you know how everything works and how to bet, you may go ahead and make an actual bet. Pick a chip or chips and place your wager. Then press ‘Deal’ to deal the cards. Two cards for the Banker and the Player are usually enough to determine who wins.
Say the player has got two cards worth 9 or 8 together, then he is a ‘natural’ and he wins. The player’s hand is complete first. If the player gets 6 or 7, then he stands waiting for the banker to get his last card. If the player gets from 0 to 5 points, then the third card is dealt to the player.
As for the banker, it depends on the results of the player, mostly. If the banker gets an 8 or a 9 his is, of course, ‘natural’, but otherwise the rules for drawing extra cards are much more complex for the banker.
What are your chances to win at Baccarat? Well, they are pretty high actually. Baccarat has one of the lowest house edges ever — just over 1%. But there is a catch. Everything depends on your bets. The odds when you bet on the banker or the player are 1:1 each, obviously. The odds for the tie wager are much more impressive: 8:1. But don’t rush into betting on the tie. Odds are not everything in gambling.
The low house edge, we have mentioned, is low if you bet on either the banker or the player. The house edge for the bets on the player is 1,17%. And for the bets on the banker it is around 1,36%. But for the tie bets, the casino advantage would be around 14,12%. So though tie bets are paid the best, they might not be the best gambling strategy for baccarat.
Now you see why all the gamblers love baccarat? It’s fast, it’s fun and there is no need to memorize endless rules. Just pick a side and bet. If you are ready to try, just ask us where to play a good-old game of baccarat!
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