How do you play baccarat?
Baccarat is a classic card game of chance that has long been associated with high rollers and glamorous casino settings. But at its core, it’s a simple and fast-paced game that appeals even to casual players. The end goal is always to get as close to nine as possible without exceeding this total, so in this regard it’s not entirely dissimilar to crypto blackjack games.
The game is played between two hands, the Player and the Banker. You will bet on which hand will have a total closest to nine. Each hand is dealt two cards, while an additional third card may sometimes be drawn depending on the totals, as follows:
- Player’s Decision — the player can choose whether to draw a third card if their total is 5 or less, but they can also stand.
- Banker’s Decision — the banker decides whether to draw based on the player's action and their own total, typically using a strategy similar to Punto Banco (more on that below!), but with discretion.
You place your bet on the Player, Banker, or a Tie before the cards are revealed. The card values are then calculated as follows:
- Face cards and tens count as zero, while all other cards retain their face value, with aces being worth one.
- If the total exceeds nine, only the second digit is considered, so a hand with a 7 and an 8 (totaling 15) is counted as 5.
