Baccarat Baccarat
A card game where you guess whether the Player or the Banker will score closer to 9, using the last digit of two or three cards. The version played in casinos today is Punto Banco, which was settled in Havana, Cuba, in the 1940s.
| English | Baccarat |
|---|---|
| Classification | Basics & Betting Terms |
| Category | Card table game (house bank) |
| Main variants | Punto Banco, Chemin de Fer, Baccarat Banque |
| Cards used | Usually analyzed with an 8-deck shoe |
| Scoring | Last digit of the total (0-9) |
| Bets | Banker, Player, Tie |
| House edge | Banker 1.06%, Player 1.24%, Tie 14.36% (8 decks, Tie pays 8:1) |
Overview
Baccarat is a card game where you guess which of two hands, the “Player” or the “Banker,” will score closer to 9. Players have almost no choices about the cards, and the cards are dealt by fixed rules, so all you decide is which side to bet on. That’s why it’s considered the quickest to learn among casino game types.
Most baccarat played in casinos today is Punto Banco. The casino acts as the opponent (the bank), and players don’t compete against each other. It’s a big game in Asia: one tally found that about 91% of Macau’s casino revenue in 2014 came from Punto Banco.
Where It Came From
| Period | Details |
|---|---|
| Late 15th century or 19th century | The origin is disputed. One theory says it came from Italy to France in the late 15th century, and another says it emerged in the 19th century. |
| Late 18th century | “Macao,” a game seen as a direct ancestor of baccarat, spread across Europe. |
| 1847 | The French book “Album des Jeux” recorded Baccarat Banque, a three-player version. |
| Late 19th century | Chemin de Fer (French for “railway”), a faster two-player version, appeared. |
| 1940s | In Havana, Cuba, the game was settled into Punto Banco, where the casino acts as the bank. |
How Scoring and Play Work
Cards 2 to 9 count at face value, 10, J, Q and K are worth 0, and an A is worth 1. If the total goes over 10, only the last digit counts. A 6 and a 7 make 3 points, not 13.
- The Player and the Banker each get two cards.
- If either side’s first two cards total 8 or 9, it’s a “natural” and the round ends immediately.
- With no natural, the Player draws one more card on 0 to 5 points and stands on 6 or 7.
- Whether the Banker draws a third card is decided by a fixed table based on the Banker’s score and the Player’s third card.
All of these rules are automatic, so you never choose whether to draw another card.
Bet Types and House Edge
These are the house edge figures for the main bets, calculated for an 8-deck shoe.
| Bet | Payout | House Edge |
|---|---|---|
| Banker | 1:1 minus a 5% commission on winnings | 1.06% |
| Player | 1:1 | 1.24% |
| Tie (draw) | 8:1 | 14.36% |
| Tie (where 9:1 is paid) | 9:1 | About 4.85% |
Under the rules, the Banker wins slightly more often than the Player, so a 5% commission is taken from winnings to make up for it. Even after the commission, the Banker bet has the lowest house edge of the three. The Tie, on the other hand, looks like it has a big payout, but its house edge is more than 10 times higher.
Good to Know
Every round of baccarat is an independent event, so if the Banker has won several times in a row, the odds for the next round don’t change. The idea of reading trends from a results scoreboard is close to the gambler’s fallacy. Betting systems that change your stake each round can’t change the house edge itself either. You can find basic terms in general casino terms.