Playing Online Baccarat

Baccarat is a classic casino table game that is loved by millions and played in land-based casinos as well as in online venues. Learning the rules of baccarat and employing this knowledge is a relatively simple task.

Getting Started

A game of baccarat is played with between one and eight 52-card decks. The player's objective is to bet on the hand that they believe will end up with a total score closest to nine or exactly nine. This player can bet on their own hand the player hand or on the banker hand. A less popular bet due to the low odds of winning is the tie bet, which means the player believes that both hands will have equal values at the end of the round. To get started in the game, the player and the banker are dealt two cards.

Point Values and the Third Card

The point values in the game of baccarat are as follows: an Ace is always valued as one, face cards are valued as 10, and cards two through 10 are scored based upon their face value. Depending on the scores, either the player or the banker may win immediately. If either player has a 'natural', or a two-hand score of eight or nine, they are declared the winner. If neither player has a natural, house rules dictate when a player must stand and when they must take another card. The hand that is closest to nine after the third card wins, unless there is a tie. In this case, only the player that has bet on a tie wins.

These are the basic rules of baccarat, but players should remember that the rules can vary depending on the variation of the game that is being played. Each casino is happy to provide their guests with their own specific baccarat rules.