Baccarat, its History and How to Play

Baccarat History

Baccarat comes from an Italian word “baccarat” which means zero. It refers to the zero value shown in all face cards and tens. This game is quite popular in Europe, mostly around casinos.

This type of game was played even before and during the Middle Ages. Its early version of the game was using the cards from a Tarot deck. Some speculated that Baccarat started out in Italy in 1490. Around 1950s, the game of Baccarat became the favorite past time and game of French nobles. As the years passed by, baccarat become known in various names such as European baccarat and chemin de fer for French. As for American baccarat, this game was originated in England and later on reached South America. However, the version of baccarat that is being played today originated from a casino in Havana, Cuba named Capri Casino.

In a game of baccarat, the dealer (known as the croupier) will stand in the middle and then makes his call from left on each hand as its being dealt one by one. He gives the players instructions on how to play the game. There are two other dealers involve which are responsible of holding the payouts.

Baccarat Gameplay

Baccarat can be played using 6 or 8 complete decks of cards and each card from ace up to 9 is valued accordingly. Tens as well as face cards are valued as zero. If your 2 cards total a value of 16, 10 needs to then be subtracted and the remaining number (6) will be used as the card count. It is always the tradition that each player will have his turn to handle the the shoe (covered box) and the caller will explain to the players what they need to do. Each player is expected to bet when he is holding the shoe. However, any player will have the opportunity to decline and pass the shoe towards the next player. After each round, the caller will receive the cards from each of the player together with the shoe and then place the cards into the spare box box.

In casinos, the highest total a player may have is nine. Having two cards with a total of nine will be called a natural and he can’t lose. If both the bank as well as the player does have identical hands, there would be a tie and there will be no declaration of winner.

If there is natural hand, the players hand will always be played first and then the dealer next. If two cards have a total value of 5 or less, there will be a need to draw another card. If the total is either a 6 or 7, there is no need to draw another card.

Rule of thumb, the maximum number of cards that can be drawn by either hand is three cards only. If both hands have already been played out, then the hand who is close to 9 will win the game. Players place their bets through placing chips. The winning bets, whether it is for the player or the bank is paid out at even amounts. After the declaration of the winner, the 2 dealers will have to pay off the players with winning bets and then collect the money from the losers. However, if the bank wins the game, players who have won must pay a commission on their winnings valued at 5%.

Baccarat is actually a simple game that does not require any level of skill on both the dealer and the player.

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