Online Baccarat Guide

Baccarat is a popular casino game that is believed to originate in medieval Italy and then was brought to France around the end of the 15th century. The name seems to be introduced into the French language from Provençal, a dialect spoken in the Provence region in France.

In the Provençal dialect they referred to the game as Baccara (the silent 't' was added later on by an unknown source) which meant Zero. It is funny to think that this sophisticated game is named after the worst possible hand in Baccarat.

It was made very popular in the 20th century when Ian Fleming made it the game of choice for his top spy James Bond. Bond played this exclusive game, often against one of his villains.

Baccarat is considered the classiest of all casino games and the one played for the highest stakes in casinos. Often baccarat would be played in Baccarat Pits that would be roped off from the rest of the casino and would allow access only to high rollers.

Online casinos have changed this trend and have made the game accessible to all players. There are 3 types of baccarat played today; Chemin de fer, Banque and Punto Banco, but not all online casinos offer all of them.

The game has a simple objective to reach the value of 9 using the cards you were dealt. Cards 2 to 9 are worth their face value, 10's and face cards are valued as zero and an Ace is valued as 1.

When playing baccarat it is important to remember that the term banker does not refer to the house and the term player does not refer to the gambler. Each player will get their turn to be the banker and the casino doesn't have any direct involvement in the game, it merely regulates it and takes a 5% rake of doing so.