Usually casinos reserve a roped-off area within the casino for the game of Baccarat, which will be filled with well-dressed casino patrons. In fact Baccarat has even made its way into the annals of Hollywood, being featured in one of the James Bond movies.

A few casinos also offer mini Baccarat in the main gaming area. This is basically the same game but the casinos accept lower bets; you won’t need to dress like James Bond and the players don’t have to take turns in dealing the cards. The aim of the game is to bet on either the “Player’s” hand or the “Bank’s” hand, whichever you think will be closest to nine (9). Each hand receives two cards and then dependant on fixed rules, the hands may receive an additional card. These hands are dealt from a “shoe” containing 8 decks of cards, and are then dealt alternately to the Player and then to the Bank.

Cards are considered according to their face value; the figurative cards (J, Q, K) are counted as 10 and the Ace as 1. When the cards are added only the second numerical digit is counted, so a hand total of 17 is considered as 7 points. There are no decisions needing to be made by the player or bank for the adding of an additional card, as everything goes by fixed Baccarat rules. The only decision needing to be made is the initial wager. The winning hand is the one closest to nine points and if chosen in the original wager, you receive even money on your bet, although 5% commission is deducted from winning bets on the “Banker” hand. In the result of a “Tie”, i.e. both hands having the same total, bets on the “Tie” win paying 8:1. All other bets on the Banker or Player will have their bets returned in the event of a Tie.

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