Baccarat Guide

Baccarat is originally a European game that also goes by the name punto banco at many online casinos and land based gambling establishments. Players who wish to try out one of the easier casino card games may be interested in online baccarat because it relies mostly on the luck of the draw. Unlike popular online card games such as poker, there is no option to bluff or even play against other players -the player must simply bet on who they think will win -either the player or the banker.

In online baccarat the players must first place their bets and then the hands are dealt. The player is either betting on the chance that that player will win, or the banker will win and a third option is to bet on a tie. This is a rare and unpopular option for online baccarat players because the odds of winning this bet are very low. In most cases, a win on the player or the banker pays even money (1:1) plus an additional house commission.

In online baccarat the objective is to get a natural, which has a value of 8 or 9. Two cards are dealt and the player must hit on a hand worth 5 or less and must stick on a hand with 6 or greater. As for baccarat hand ranks, tens and face cards are worth 0 and all other cards are worth their face value. Double-digit hands are impossible in online baccarat so a total of 12 actually becomes 2 making 9 the highest possible value hand. The highest value hand wins and ties can occur although they are rare.

Free baccarat games can be played for fun and practice via software simulation and players of all levels will sharpen their baccarat skills by playing a few games online.