Baccarat
Baccarat is one of the strangest games in the casino. Played in its own
room separate from the rest of the gaming floor, or in a pit roped off
with velvet, one would expect the game itself to reflect the grandeur
of its presentation. Instead, baccarat is the most dead simple game a
casino has offered since slots and keno! Of course, who said simplicity
couldn't be stylish?
If you're ready to step up to the baccarat table, but aren't sure what
you'd do after you sit down, Casino-Start.Net can help you get moving.
First off we'll start with the premise and objective of the game. Two
two-card hands are dealt at the table, one is the 'banker's hand' and
one is the 'player's hand', but those are just labels, as you can bet
on either hand. This is the premise: before the two hands are dealt everybody
bets on which one will win. The objective of the game is to get the total
of your cards (the hand you bet on) closest to nine. The funny bit is,
you don't have any control over achieving the objective, as you'll soon
see. There is no such thing as busting in baccarat like you would find
in blackjack. If your first two cards total to a two-digit number, the
first digit is dropped. Say you are dealt a pair of sevens - the total
is 14, but the count is set to 4, as the leading 1 is ignored.
If the first two cards of a hand total 8 or 9 the hand is declared a 'natural'
and wins (unless there is a tie between two naturals). If one of the two
hands is a natural, it wins without giving the other hand a chance to
draw another card. If the total is not a natural win on either hand, another
card is drawn for each hand to determine the winner, and the first digit
is again dropped from any two-digit totals. Winning banker hands are usually
taxed 5% by the casinos, as anybody can be the banker, not always a casino
employee. This hint is enough to gain an advantage in baccarat, because
you know if the casinos take a cut of just one hand, that one hand probably
has a good chance of winning.
You will notice a number of people using scorecards at the baccarat table.
They are marking off the history of winning hands, checking off either
banker or player, in hopes of seeing a 'streak' occur and taking advantage
of it. This is illogical thinking, as no hand is influenced by the hands
that came before it. In the end this 'pattern chasing' is more of a form
of entertainment to pass the time than it is a real strategy. Don't base
your bets on the history of hands played. Even if there have been 50 wins
for the banker hand in a row, the chances of the player hand winning on
the next deal is still pretty much 50%, the deck of cards doesn't really
care what happened a second ago.
Card counting is a strategy most often used in blackjack, but sometimes
applied to baccarat. The reason people try to count cards in baccarat
is simply because of the fact that it's technically possible. That, and
it's so similar to blackjack in the way the cards are dealt, it's probably
a bit irresistible to at least try. The sad fact is though, that even
if you could count cards like rainman, the advantage it would give you
in baccarat is statistically insignificant. In other words, counting cards
gives you results no better than the average player who doesn't count
cards, so there is little point in trying. If you're a big fan who plays
all of the time anyway, try this unsophisticated card counting technique.
Pay attention to the 4's and 6's as they leave the shoe. As more 6's leave
the deck, the player hand bet becomes slightly more attractive, and as
more 4's leave the deck, the banker hand becomes slightly more attractive.
Notice though, that the cards are often shuffled back into the deck before
very many leave.
|
