Baccarat – The Big Money Game for the High Rollers!

Baccarat is one of the oldest games in any casino table, which was first developed by Felix Falguierein, an Italian gambler who used a pack of tarot cards to play it.
The Italian word Baccarat literally means zero, which refers to its game cards and 10s, all of which have zero value in this game. Ever since it tiptoed into the stylish Nevada casinos this game has become a favorite among the rich and the well heeled. There is a distinct exuberance for this game and is the haunt of the high rollers where big money changes hands.

Hype apart, baccarat is a simple game sans any decisions, seating position, or skill play. Players take up seats that correspond to a 1-15 number on the layout and the dealer serving seat no. 1 and 15 is known as the caller as he manages the cards in the shoe.
Every player gets a turn to have the shoe when he should make the bet. However any player can turn down the shoe, wherein it will be passed along the other players. The caller collects cards from the player and keeps in the right boxes; he might then ask for another card or announces the winner, as per the rules of the game.

Betting is by placing the chips in the box near the seat of the players; bets on the player or bank are made and both the bets have equal stakes. Typically bets spans from a paltry $20 to a staggering $2,000. Once the winner is declared the dealers collect the money from the losers and pay off the bet. Winners must pay a 5% commission on their prize money in case the bank is declared the winner. Players are paid after the completion of a shoe and every time, the cards in the shoe are used up, freshly shuffled eight decks are put back.

Baccarat is all about drawing cards from a deck and to reach up to the best possible score of 9 while zero is the worst possibility. Here there are no big scores as all the cards (including the face cards) are counted as only 10, aces have a value of 1 while other cards carry their indicated value. Thus if you have a hand with 8 and 3 your score is not 11 as greenhorns might presume but just 1 as only the last digit is taken into consideration.

Baccarat is essentially a game between a player and a banker alright, but the players can don these two roles in turns. It is also possible to place bets on the player or the bank without playing these roles. The pay offs is 1-1 if you win a bet on Banker or Player with the odds stacked slightly in favor of the banker. The ties pay 1-8 (not all casinos allow betting on ties, so check out!) But this is an awful bet as the casino has an advantage of 14% on it; so it’s simply not worth a try.