How Baccarat Works

If you want a Las Vegas casino table game that offers James Bond-style gambling fun, Baccarat is it. This simple game requires no complicated strategies, and the dealer does most of the work. However, it’s still important to understand how the game works before you play.

Baccarat is a card game in which the player and the banker both place their bets before the cards are dealt. The Player can bet on either the Player or the Banker hand, while the Banker can bet on any of the three possible outcomes — a Player win, a Banker win, or a tie. Once the bets are placed, the dealer will deal two cards each to the Player and the Banker. The winner is whichever hand totals closest to nine. In the event of a tie, the bets are returned to the players. Winning Banker bets are subject to a 5% commission fee, which is tracked in a special box by the dealer and collected for every winning Banker hand.

The game is played on a special table with a large playing area, six seats on either side of the dealer, and a smaller area for a third person to sit and act as the “Commandant.” A special deck of 52 cards is used, and a box called a “shoe” holds the cards until they are needed to be dealt. The dealer, who is a member of the staff, is called a “croupier” or “dealer,” and they keep track of all bets and payouts. A numbered tray marks each seat where the players keep their money. In the case of a Baccarat game, real cash is usually used, but high-denomination chips can also be utilized.

During a round of Baccarat, the dealer will flip over four cards in total. The first two cards are for the Player’s hand and the third is for the Banker’s hand. The player and banker bets will be compared to determine the winner, with the Banker bet paying out the most (with a lower house edge).

After the cards are dealt, the dealer will tot up each hand’s total. The hand that is closest to 9 wins, and ties are rare. If the Banker bet wins, it will pay out at odds of 8:1 (depending on the site and variant). The Player bet pays out at 7:1 odds.

There are also a few other side bets that can be placed in Baccarat. One is the Super Six Bet, in which the player can win if the Banker hand wins with a score of 6. The other is the Pair Bet, which pays out if the first two cards are a matching pair. Both of these bets can be placed alongside the initial Banker and Player bets, but their payouts vary by establishment and platform.