Baccarat is a High-Stakes Casino Game
From sticky-floor California card rooms to the tuxedo-laden casinos of Monaco, the world loves a good game of Baccarat. While pop culture fans associate the game with James Bond, its roots stretch back more than 700 years. Some speculate that it spun off from pai gow, an ancient Chinese tile game. Others link it to a medieval legend that tells the story of a virgin who had to throw a nine-sided die. If she threw higher than eight, she was elevated to the priestess position; lower and she would be banished from the church.
Players wager on the Player or Banker hand, and if they correctly guess which hand will have a total closer to nine than the other, they win. Ten-value cards count as zero, and aces are worth one. The Dealer deals two cards to each hand, then adds up the values. If a Player or Banker bet wins, the winnings are added to their bankroll. If the bet loses, the bet amount is lost.
The game is simple, but it’s easy to make mistakes that can cost you a fortune. That’s why the most successful players, such as a man we’ll call Francois, are so careful about the rules and so secretive about their strategy.
Baccarat is a high-stakes casino game, and it’s no surprise that high rollers are drawn to the game. “It’s a cultural thing,” says Bill Zender, a former Nevada Gaming Control Agent, casino dealer and executive who literally wrote the book on managing casino games. “In Asia, baccarat has become almost universally accepted.”
The rituals that unfold at the baccarat table are both awe-inducing and a bit intimidating. The dealer begins by cracking open six fresh decks of cards. Then the cards are washed in swirling patterns across the table and then grouped and loaded into the shoe.
Once the shoe is shuffled, the Dealer puts the first Player card in the Player box and the Banker card in the Banker box. The Players place their bets and the game commences.
As the game progresses, the Dealer will draw and deal more cards to both hands until the Banker hand has a total closer to nine than the Player hand or the Tie bet is won. If a tie is won, the winnings are paid at eight to one.
There are many strategies to play Baccarat, but some of the most popular involve varying bet sizes based on wins and losses. For example, the Labouchere betting system is a mathematical sequence in which bets are increased after each loss, and decreased on each win. This can help you recover losses quickly and reach your target profit. However, it’s important to remember that Baccarat is a game of chance, and past results do not guarantee future outcomes. So, if you have a set goal in mind for your profits, it’s best to stick with one of the most common betting strategies, rather than chasing streaks or patterns.