Online Baccarat

Baccarat is a classic card game that’s played against the house. It’s extremely popular in land-based casinos with high rollers due to its extremely low house edge, and is of course a favorite game of James Bond. Baccarat is also known as Punto Banco, and there are two hands dealt in the game, and somewhat confusingly these are called the Player and the Banker; however, players do not participate in the action in any way, and the player of the game does not actually get a hand. Baccarat is very simple to play and many US online casinos will allow you to play for free until you have the confidence to play for real money.

The Goal of Baccarat and the Betting Options

There are only three possible bets in Baccarat:

Player
Banker
Tie

To play the game, participants must bet on which hand will have a total closer to 9. The card values in Baccarat are different from other casino card games: the Ace is worth 0, 10s, Jacks, Queens, and Kings are worth 1, and numbered cards from 2 to 9 are face value.

How the Game is Played

To begin, players must make a bet on either Player, Banker, or Tie, and two hands of two face-up cards are dealt—one to the Player and one to the Banker. If either hand has a total of 8 or 9, both hands stand; this is called a natural, and the hand with 8 or 9 wins if the other is lower (or it's a tie if equal).

If neither hand has 8 or 9, the Player hand draws first if its total is 5 or under (stands on 6 or 7). The Banker hand then draws according to fixed rules based on its total and the Player's cards. Should a hand exceed 9, only the right-hand digit counts, e.g., a score of 11 is 1 and 17 is 7.

Sounds Complex? Play For Free and Learn

Baccarat can seem a little complex at first, but it is a very simple casino game to play, and after a short time you’ll find that you fully understand what seem like very complex rules. The best way to learn is of course to play for free, and right here you’ll find plenty of online casinos like Lincoln Casino, Red Stag Casino, and Bovada Casino that allow you to do just that.