Baccarat Rules

Playing online baccarat is not as difficult as most people might think. Although the game enjoys a reputation of exclusivity and high class, it is relatively an easy game to play.

The rules of baccarat are simple as the game is based on a 52 cards deck and is usually played with 8 decks per game. The objective of the game is to reach a total point value of cards equal to 9.

Each card has a point value; cards 2 to 9 have their noted value, 10's and face cards (jack, queen and king) are worth zero and aces equal 1. Any hand value that is above 9 is a losing hand.

In Punto Banco Baccarat which is the north American version of the game a player must make a bet of which hand will win; the player's hand (Punto) or the bankers hand (Banco). The banker is this case is the dealer.

In the French version of the game Chemin de Fer the player does not wager on which hand will win but rather is playing the hand they were dealt against the banker's hand. The banker in every round is a different player and that player will continue being the banker until they lose. At that point the role of banker will move to the next player around the table.

The third version of baccarat is Banque and is similar to Chemin de Fer with one difference; the banker stays on until all cards in the shoe have been dealt and only then the role of banker is passed to another player.

The most common type of baccarat is Punto Banco, but in many online casinos you can also find Chemin de Fer.