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The object of Baccarat is to bet on one of the three possible outcomes - A Player win, Banker win or you can even bet on a tie.

Both Dealer and Player are initially dealt two cards face up. The player receives the first and third cards dealt from the shoe while the second and forth cards are the Banker's. A third card will be dealt to either hand according to the rules in the chart below. No more than three cards are dealt.

The cards are valued as follows:

• Face cards and tens count as 0,
• Aces count as 1,
• All other cards count as face value.

The odd thing about Baccarat is how the score of each hand is determined. It is determined by the last digit of the sum of the card values in the hand. Therefore a hand with an 9 and a 7 would have a score of 6 as 9 + 7 = 16. For this reason tens and face cards count as zero as the scores always have to range from 0 to 9. The object of each hand is to get as close as possible to 9. It is impossible to go bust unlike Blackjack. Achieving a score of 8 or 9 with the first two cards is referred to as a "natural". If either Player or Dealer has a then both hands automatically stand.

Once the initial cards are dealt the dealer checks if either hand has a natural then that hand wins. If both hands have a natural, the higher natural wins. If both hands have the same natural, it's a tie. If neither the Player nor the Banker has a natural, then play goes to the Player. The Player's hand has to Stand on a score of 6 or 7. If the score is less than 6 then Player receives one more card and new score is calculated based on all three cards.

Play then switches to the Banker. If the Player did not draw a third card then the same rules apply to the Dealer. The Dealer stands on 6 or 7 and draws a third card if the score is less than 6. If the Player did draw a third card then the Banker will stand on a score of 7 but draws or stands on scores of 6 or less depending on the value of the Player's third card. The rules governing whether the Banker draws or stands are as follows:

A winning bet on the Player's hand is paid 1 to 1. Winning bets on the Banker's hand will win 95% of the players stake. This is because a 5% commission is paid to the House. If you bet on a Tie occurring then the bet pays 8 to 1. If a tie occurs while betting on either the Player or Banker then the Player will recieve their stake back (A Push).

Published on: 2003-02-21