Baccarat Rules - Baccarat Rule

Rules of Baccarat - Rules for Baccarat

Baccarat is the easiest game to play at any casino, whether it is your local casino or an online casino. Here are the basic baccarat rules to get you started playing quickly. This first baccarat rule section does not contain the complete rules of baccarat. For the complete rules for baccarat, see the next section below.

To play baccarat, follow these simple steps.

Decide how much you wish to bet on the hand.
Choose to bet on either the player, banker or a tie
Let the dealer deal the cards based on the posted baccarat rules and determine the winner
Collect your winnings if your bet wins

Here is the advanced version of baccarat rules so you can understand why the baccarat dealer draws cards on particular hands and doesn't on others. Every baccarat rule is actually pretty simple once you learn them.

The first baccarat rule to learn is the value of the cards.

All tens and face cards count as zero.
Aces count as one.
All other cards count as their face value. For example, eights are worth eight and fives are worth five.

Once the cards in each hand are added, if the total is 10 or over, the tens place is dropped. So if you have an eight and a nine, your total is seven, not seventeen.

After the first two cards are dealt for the player and the banker, the following baccarat rules are followed.

Whenever the player or the banker's first two cards total eight or nine, no further cards are drawn. An 8 or a 9 on the first two cards is often called a baccarat natural.
Whenever the player has a zero, one, two, three, four or five on his or her first two cards, he or she receives one more card.
When the player has a six or a seven, he or she stands and does not receive another card.
When the player does not draw a card, the banker does not draw a card when he or she has a six or a seven.
When the player does not draw a card and the banker has any total of five or less, the banker draws an additional card.
If the player draws a card and it is a two or three: The banker gets another card if he or she has zero, one, two, three or four. If the banker has a five, six or seven, he or she stands.
When the player draws a card and it is a four or five: The banker stands on a six or seven and draws another card on any hand of five or lower.
When the player draws a six or seven: the dealer stands on a seven and draws on everything six or lower.
If the player draws an eight: the dealer draws if he or she has a zero, one or two and stands on everything else.
When the player draws a face card, ten, ace or nine: The banker draws if he or she is holding zero, one, two or three and stands on everything four and higher.

Bets on the baccarat player pay one-to-one and bets on the baccarat dealer pay one-to-one minus a 5% commission. For example, a bet of $10 on the player pays the original bet of $10 plus winnings of $10. A winning bet on the banker of $10 pays back the original $10 plus $9.50. A winning bet on a tie usually pays back eight-to-one. These are the most common payouts, but there are a few casinos who post different ones. Check the baccarat table for the house rules before playing baccarat.

Mini Baccarat Rules - Baccarat Game Rules

Mini baccarat rules are the same as the baccarat game rules listed above. The only difference is that in mini baccarat the dealer does everything. In a normal baccarat game usually a player gets to deal the cards. This is only used in high stakes games in large casinos usually. The baccarat game most of us play is actually mini baccarat.

So the good news is whether you need to learn the mini baccarat rules or the normal baccarat rule structure you only have to learn one set. I hope this tutorial helped you learn how to play baccarat. Good luck at the baccarat game of your choice.

Baccarat Rule Variations

There are two somewhat well known baccarat rule variations. They are called baccarat chemin de fer and baccarat banque. Neither baccarat chemin de fer or baccarat banque are offered in casinos normally in the United States. Both of these baccarat rules variations involve one of the players acting as the bank and the rules for drawing are not quite as stringent as those for normal baccarat.