Baccarat has a reputation as a casino game for the elite, attracting high-limit players and generating more revenue than any other table game. In Macau, for example, where the game is a mainstay of high-roller enclaves, you can bet $100,000 or more on a single hand. But despite the rituals and Bond-dipped mystique, the game is actually quite simple: place your chips in one of the betting areas—player, banker, or tie—and hope that the hand you bet on wins.
The card game is a variation on poker and blackjack, but with much simpler rules: the goal is to have the hand you’re betting on (player or banker) be closest to nine when all the pips—clubs, diamonds, hearts, and spades—are added up. Picture cards count as zero and aces count as one. If a player bets on a tie, he or she gets paid eight to one when the game ends.
There are a few things to know before you try baccarat for yourself, however. First, it’s a very fast-moving game. The dealer and croupier take bets from up to 14 players, and only two hands are dealt each round. A winning hand pays 9-1, and a losing bet is returned. There is also a third bet, called a Tie, that pays 8-1 if the Banker and Player hands match in value.
The baccarat table is about the size of a craps table, and is usually manned by three casino employees: two dealers who take bets from the players, and one croupier who directs the play of the game and calls the hands. The dealer and croupier work together to ensure the game flows smoothly, but each has their own betting area. There are from seven to 14 seats for players, and the table is divided into three betting areas: player, banker, and tie.
Aside from the speed of play, the most important thing to know is that baccarat is not a game of skill. In fact, you’re more likely to get struck by lightning than hit a winning streak in the game.
Despite this, there are some strategies that you can use to improve your chances of winning. For instance, using a system of pre-shuffled cards can cut down the time it takes to introduce new decks into the game. The standard procedure involves having each card inspected, fronts and backs, by both the floor supervisor and dealer before being scrambled or “washed” together and inserted into a shuffling machine or manually shuffled. Using pre-shuffled cards will eliminate this step.