Casinos have no shortage of card games. There are card games that pay outrageous amounts of money with little to no strategy and there are some which pay abysmal cash even with big brain moves. The point is there is something for everyone. Somewhere between these two extremes lies the game of Baccarat. It has garnered an immense online casino following in the past decade.
If you are a beginner and want to start playing this and other online games for real money today, you have come to the right place.
Baccarat Rules
Here are the things you should know:
First, let’s understand the value of each card. Cards from 2-9 are valued at their face values. That means, 2 equals two and 5 equals five.
Cards 10, Jack(J), Queen(Q), and King(K) all are valued at zero.
Ace(A) is valued at one.
Now, if you have played Andar Bahar before, Baccarat is very similar to that. Andar Bahar is just watered-down Baccarat.
As there is an Andar side and Bahar side in the game of Andar Bahar, Baccarat has a Player Side and the Banker side.
So, we make a wager on either the Player’s side winning or the Banker’s side winning.
How is it played?
A dealer deals two cards each to both Player and Banker.
The goal of the game is to reach 9 or closer to 9 after summing up the two cards.
Let’s take a look at one quick example. The dealer deals two cards to the Player and Banker each. The Banker has a 6 and a 3 while the player has a Queen and an 8.
So, for the Banker, it is 6+3=9, and for the Player, it is 0+8=8. Remember 10 and face cards are valued zero.
Since Banker is 9 and Player is 8, Banker wins.
One more example, the hands are dealt and the Banker receives 7 and 9 while the Player receives 9 and 8.
For Banker its 7+9=16
For Player its 9+8=17
When this happens, when the sum of two cards is in two digits, we simply remove the left digit, or for you, Math savvy out there, it’s the “modulo 10.”
If the sum is 14, we remove the left digit, it becomes 4.
If the sum is 18, we remove the left digit, it becomes 8.
Likewise, in this example, Banker’s 16 becomes 6, and Player’s 17 becomes 7. Since 7 is closer to 9 than 6, the Player wins this round.
Third Card?
In Baccarat, often a third card is drawn out. It is a compulsory affair and the dealer takes care of it so that us player’s as in bet makers need not worry about it.
However, when the sum is very low than 9 such as 2 or three on either Player or Bankers side, the third card is drawn.
Side Bets and Payouts
Baccarat has options for side bets as well. There are many kinds of side bets like either pair, banker pair, player pair, etc. But consider before you go all-in on this. Side bets are not everyone’s cup of tea, especially not for beginners.
So many experts suggest that beginners stay away from the side bets.
The payouts are good in Baccarat. The reason many people like this game is because it has a low house edge. Banker’s hands have a 1.06% house edge where player hands have a 1.24% house edge. That’s pretty low compared to other games.