Baccarat is one of the most popular casino games. It is an exciting game that is easy to learn. Players wager on either the Player hand, the Banker hand or the Tie. If you correctly forecast the winning hand the payout is 1:1. If you wager on the Banker hand the house charges a 5% commission which effectively reduces the payout odds to 8 to 1. A winning tie bet pays out 9 to 1 or double your stake.

In the simplest form of the game the player and the banker each have two cards dealt from a seven or eight deck shoe. A third card is sometimes drawn for either the Banker or Player hand depending on the situation. The hand that is closest to nine wins the round. The Banker’s and the Player’s hands are compared separately and a decision table is used to determine whether to stand or take a third card.

The most widely played baccarat today is Punto Banco. It is more straightforward than the earliest 19th century form of the game known as Baccarat a Deux Tableaux or Baccarat Banque to distinguish it from later streamlined versions of the game. In these earlier forms the Banker and the Player had their two cards concealed. Once the decision tables were determined they would be revealed and the hands compared. The Banker would pay out, collect or return the players’ stakes according to their results.