Baccarat Rules

The purpose of baccarat is to guess whether the banker's hand or the player's hand will get a point value closest to 9.  The hand with the highest point value wins.

To wager, place a bet on the player's hand, banker's hand or on a tie.  A tie is when both hands have equal point values.  If the outcome of the game ends in a tie, bets on the banker and player neither win nor lose and the bets are given back.

All winning bets pay even money.  Note that if the banker wins, the house receives 5% commission.  A tie pays 8 to 1.

All ten-value cards count as zero and aces count as one.  All other cards are the point value indicated on the card.  If a hand total is more than ten points, just subtract ten.  The balance is the baccarat point value of the hand.  An example would be: 7+7=14, this would count as 4.

Baccarat Rules for Drawing

Player's Hand

Player's First Two Cards: Player's Action
0-1-2-3-4-5 Draw card
6-7 Stand
8-9 Natural hand, banker can't draw

Banker's Hand

Banker's First Two Cards: Banker draws when the player's third card is: Banker does not draw when the player's third card is:
0-1-2 Draw card -
3 0-1-2-3-4-5-6-7-9 8
4 2-3-4-5-6-7 0-1-8-9
5 4-5-6-7 0-1-2-3-8-9
6 6-7 0-1-2-3-4-5-8-9
7 Stand -
8-9 Natural hand, player can't draw Player can't draw

 

Winning Wager Pays
On the banker or the player (However, if you win by betting on the banker, the bank receives 5% commission.) 1 to 1
On a tie 8 to 1

Strategy

In the game of baccarat, there really is no playing strategy that will affect the end result of a hand.  But, if you follow these simple tips you can increase your chances of winning.