Baccarat (pronounced bah-ca-rah) is the most glamorous game in the casino. The game was invented in the 1500s by the French aristocrats who didn’t have anything better to do. In some European countries, the game is called chemin de fer. When you think of a baccarat player, you often think of James Bond, along with wealth, class, and prestige. Baccarat is played with high betting minimums and limits in specially designed betting areas of the casino called high-limit areas. The usual betting minimum is $20 a hand.

From this high-limit game, casinos developed a game for lower-limit players called mini-baccarat. Mini-baccarat is the same game as bac-carat, with the same rules, but it’s played at a different type of table for lower limits. The usual minimum wager for mini-baccarat is $5 a hand.

Baccarat and mini-baccarat have a low house advantage at 1.17 percent to 1.36 percent. The difference between the two house advantages is whether you bet on the bank hand (1.17 percent advantage) or on the player hand (1.36 percent advantage). So for every $100 you bet, you’ll win $98.64 or $98.83 back on average over the long haul. Contrary to what many people may think, baccarat is a very simple game to learn. You don’t have to learn any special strategy, count cards, or have a difficult betting system to play baccarat or mini-baccarat correctly.

The Rules

In baccarat and mini-baccarat, the object is for the players to bet on the winning hand. Baccarat tables can fit up to fifteen players, but mini-baccarat tables usually have room for only six or seven. No matter how many players are at the table, however, there are only two hands dealt-one to the dealer and one to the “player.” Both hands are dealt next to each other, face up, by the dealer or the person holding the shoe in baccarat. In both games usually six or eight standard decks are used to play. The casino decides on the number of decks to use.

There are three choices in making a bet in baccarat or mini-bac-carat. You can bet on the “player” hand, the banker hand, or a tie. Make these bets by placing your chips in the appropriate space in front of you, clearly marked “player” and “banker” or numbered (for a tie). You make your bets before any of the cards are dealt. (Since all the cards are dealt face up, it wouldn’t be much of a challenge it you made your bet after the cards are dealt!)

Whichever of the two hands totals nine or comes closer to nine wins. All cards count their value, aces count as one, and all tens and face cards count as zero. To total up a hand, add the values of the cards. It’s just simple math-almost. If the total of a hand exceeds ten, drop the tens digit. For example, if the hand consisted of an eight and a nine, the total would be seventeen, which would be reduced to seven.

A little confusing, perhaps. But don’t worry: there’s no need to understand all the rules of baccarat or mini-baccarat perfectly, since the dealer or croupier plays both hands and does it all by the book. So, you’re betting on a game of chance played by an expert. Relax and enjoy!

Although the rules are the same for baccarat and mini-baccarat, there’s a slight difference in the mechanics of play. In baccarat, the shoe (a holder for the cards) is passed around the table and the players take turns dealing the cards. Players feel more involved in the outcome of the game when they deal the cards from the shoe.

It also adds to the glamour of playing baccarat. A player holds the shoe until the player hand beats the dealer hand (also known as the bank hand). Then the shoe is passed to the next player counterclockwise around the table. In mini-baccarat, the mechanics of the game are simpler: the dealer handles all the cards.

The dealer begins by dealing two cards each to the player and to the banker, face up. If either hand is dealt a total of eight or nine on those first two cards, it’s called a natural. The eight is called le petit natural and the nine is called le grand natural. A natural wins the hand. A grand natural beats a petit natural because nine is greater than eight. If both hands are naturals, the game ends in a tie. If not, a third card is dealt.

In baccarat, after the initial two cards are dealt to both the player and the bank, a casino employee, the call man, will indiCate to the player with the shoe that it’s time to deal the next card and who gets it. In the higher-limit baccarat, the casino uses two dealers who handle all the chips, whether it’s collecting losing bets, paying winning bets, or making change. Each dealer is located in the middle of the table across from the call man and is responsible for one side of the table. In the simpler game of mini-baccarat, the casino dealer handles deals all the cards and all the chips.

As mentioned above, if either hand is a natural, the hand ends. If neither the player nor the banker has a natural, the dealer or call man then determines whether either hand gets a third card according to the following rules. The dealer must always play the player hand first, then the banker hand.

The banker hand is always played according to how the player hand was played. If the player had a natural, the banker does not draw a card. If the player hand stands with a six or seven, the banker hand must always do the following:

When the player hand draws a third card, the banker hand must always do the following:

When both hands have been played out, the hand closer to nine wins. The dealer then pays those who bet on the winning hand. If the hand ends in a tie, the dealer pays those who bet on a tie. In that case, all bets on the player or the banker are pushes. In other words, they don’t get paid but they don’t lose their wagers.

The payoffs for each of the three bets are as follows. A wager on the player hand winning is paid off at even money (one to one). So if you bet $5 and the player hand wins, you’ll win $5. A wager on the banker hand is paid off at even money minus a 5 percent com-mission. So if you bet $5 and the bank hand wins, you’ll win $4.75 ($5 minus a 5 percent commission). Since the bank hand has a very slight edge over the player hand, the casino charges a commission when you take advantage of this edge by betting the bank hand. A wager on a tie is paid off at nine to one or eight to one, depending on the casino. A tie is the worst wager you can make in baccarat or mini-baccarat. The house advantage is 9.5 percent at nine to one and 18.5 percent at eight to one. Since the casino uses six or eight decks, the likelihood of a tie happening is ten to one. By not paying the true odds, the casino is making money every time you bet a tie.