The Game of Baccarat
One of the least understood casino games is baccarat. It is fashioned after the European game of Chemin de Fer, and is generally played in Strip hotels in Las Vegas behind a roped off area.
For many years the game had a certain mystique, since it was the only casino game played with cash, and the only game where there was an attempt at European elegance, with the three baccarat dealers wearing tuxedos. The minimum bets allowed were $20 on the Strip, up to maximum of $2,000, making it the highest betting of all the casino games.
All these factors added to its mystery, and the average player in a casino had no way of playing the game unless he was willing to go past the velvet rope, sit down, take out cash, and hope that, somehow, someone would explain the game to him before he made a helpless fool of himself. He might feel that the casino didn't want his business; that it was an exclusive game for favored high rollers.
Both premises would be wrong. The casino wanted and still wants his business at the baccarat table, and if you go into any Strip casino during the slow hours of the early afternoon, you'll see attractive women sitting at the baccarat table, betting the minimum allowed, and playing with bored, detached airs. These women are hired by the casino as shills, or "starters," to attract men to the table by making it appear that their participation means an active game.
Two factors opened up the game to more players. The first is the introduction and use of casino checks or chips, instead of cash, at practically all the baccarat games now playing in Vegas. The second, and more important for the average player, is the introduction of mini-baccarat.
Mini-baccarat is the same game as baccarat, but it is played on the casino floor as a table game, much in the manner of blackjack.
The game is faster than regular baccarat. One dealer handles the entire game, instead of the three dealers used at baccarat, and anyone can sit down and start to play at a minimum generally in accord with the minimum at other table games.
Now, for a quick explanation of the game. It's played with 8 decks of cards placed in a "shoe." The game is played strictly according to a predetermined set of rules, and the object is to get closest to a total of 9 points.
It's easy to learn to calculate the game if one understands that tens and picture cards count as zero. Therefore, King-4 equals 4. King-10 is a zero.
Since 9 is the highest total, the first numeral in the total, if it is over 10, doesn't count. For example: 8-6 equals 14, but since no hand can be over 9, the total is 4 (we remove the first numeral). 9-7 equals 6, 8-4 equals 2, 5-6 equals 1, and 5-5 equals zero. And that's all you really have to know about the totals.
These rules sound very complicated, but they're not. Anyway, the player of the game makes only one decision; whether to bet on Bank or Player. The dealer does the rest; he plays out the cards without the bettor participating in any decisions other than his initial bet. In other words, baccarat is a mindless game. I emphasize this once and for all, to take away the mystique surrounding it.
As I said, the bettor makes only one decision: whether to bet Bank or Player. If, at the end of play, the Bank has a higher total, the Bank hand wins. If the Player total is higher, the Player hand wins. A tie is a standoff. That's the game in a nutshell.