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Baccarat Rules

Baccarat - one of the easiest casino games to play, and baccarat harbors one of the best-kept secrets of the online casino industry today. The reason for this is simple, baccarat has a very low house edge. A simple summary of the games goes like this: you have the choice to bet on either the player, the bank, or a tie. The house edge if you bet on player is approx. 1.36%, whereas if you bet on banker the house edge is 1.17%. Either way these are very good numbers, making baccarat one of the best choices for gambling, and in particular gambling online.

As a game of chance, baccarat rules may seem a bit confusing at first, but to play you don't need to be an expert. All you have to do is decide which hand you think might win, and then bet on it. But you may find yourself having more fun if you are familiar with the rules, and know what's going on. Online play also has the usual benefits of playing at an online casino, that is, control over your surroundings, the lack of alcohol being forced upon you, the lack of distractingly beautiful girls in skimpy clothing, you know you get to keep your attention span under control. Initially two hands are dealt. One to the baccarat player, one for the banker. The simplicity of baccarat rules is, you can bet on either one or the other, or a tie. If the hand you bet on wins, you get an even money payoff, that's one to one. If you bet 5 and win, you get your 5 back, and another 5. If you bet on a tie, you get an 8 to 1 payoff (bet 5 get 5 plus 40). This is of course because a tie occurs less than once out of every ten hands, making it quite a gamble.

Each hand gets two initial cards. The hand closest to 9 wins. Tens and face cards (except the ace) count as zero. The ace counts as one, and cards 2 through 9 are worth face value. Baccarat rules state that the hand closest to a count of 9 wins. There is no "bust" as in poker, and here is the tricky part. The first digit of a 2 digit total is dropped. This means, if a 6 and a 7 are drawn, the total is 13, but the first digit is dropped, so the count is 3.

If the first two cards achieve a count of 8 or 9 it is called a "natural", and as such wins automatically (excluding the event of a tie of equal valued "naturals").

If neither initial hand is a natural, additional cards are drawn to determine a winner. Baccarat rules state that winning banker bets are subject to a 5% house commission. This is of course because there is more of a chance for a banker win.

What's interesting, and what you wont learn from reading any standard baccarat rules pages, is that even after the 5% house commission, there is still an advantage to betting on the house. The margin is slim at 0.19%, but it does exist.

All bets are made before the cards are dealt. In real life baccarat each player gets the chance to deal if they want to, or they have the option of passing to the next player.

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