Fair Bet Online Gambling

Playing Baccarat – the basics

Even before the Internet became an everyday reality, the exciting card game Baccarat (pronounced BAH-ka-rah) was already being played online on interactive satellite and cable TV. It was very popular and players could be continents apart just like today, and soon afterwards the spread of the Internet made it all the more accessible, convenient, and thrilling.

The game has its origins in fifteenth-century Italy. From there it quickly became the game of choice among the French nobility. Today, at online casinos the most popular and exciting form of the game appears to be Cuban Baccarat, which is essentially North American Baccarat, one of the three main variants that developed. The game has retained its classy, high style image and has always been a favourite of wealthy gamblers. In land-based casinos, it is played in isolated chambers to assure privacy or security because high stakes are involved.

Baccarat is played with little or no skill or strategy involved. There are no patterns to cleverly watch out for, no weaknesses in other players to exploit. What semblance of strategy a player would have is only in deciding how much to bet and which one of three options to bet on—the ‘banker’, the ‘player’, or a tie between the two. House rules are not all the same, but usually the house gets a commission (mostly 5%) on winning bets on the ‘banker’ but pays a full 1:1 for winning bets on the ‘player’. The house may pay 8:1 or sometimes 9:1 to the winning bet in some circumstances, depending upon the house rules.

Whichever option is dealt a hand that adds up closest to 9 is the winning option. Baccarat assigns 0 to the face cards and the 10, 1 for the ace, and face value to the 2 up to 9. Scoring is counted as the total of all the card values, less 10 when the sum exceeds 10. In other words, the total disregards the tens digit. The highest score possible is 9.

If, in the initial deal of two cards apiece, either the ‘banker’ or the ‘player’ option gets a total of 8 or 9 (called a ‘natural’), then the game stops right there for that round and the bettor who placed his or her wager on the winning side is paid in accordance with house rules. Otherwise, the game continues and the croupier again deals the cards according to a certain set of rules. When, at any point, both the ‘banker’ and the ‘player’ get the same total score (from two or three cards, as the case may be), then the bettor who wagered on a tie wins.