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Baccarat

The game known as Baccarat, which became significantly more popular after the infamous movies, featured James Bond playing the card game. Prior to films like 007, Baccarat was thought of as a wealthy man’s pursuit due to the surprisingly high wager amounts placed on each round. The game itself is simple to play but certain individuals might find the rules somewhat challenging at first due to the scoring system. Many casinos, notably online platforms, have incorporated additional betting choices to present more opportunities to enhance their chances of winning. It's a well-known fact. In this guide, we shall examine how the game is played, what the varying player options are, and naturally, the strategies that can be used. The finest approach to learn the game is to keep this manual open, create an account at a casino, and join one of their low limit Baccarat tables. This gives an occasion to play and train using typical rules and betting elements, and with a reduced wager size, you can learn to play Baccarat without being anxious about incurring big losses.

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Introduction

Regular Baccarat without any site betting options includes 3 opportunities to win. These include Player, Banker, and Tie. The payouts presented include even money for Player and Banker bets and 8 to 1 for Tie bets. Baccarat is a game of chance, and there is no way to determine the results of the next hand. In most cases, the game is played with multiple decks of 52 cards, which excludes the jokers as they are not used. With multiple decks, it’s more difficult to determine the results by counting cards, making it the perfect game for a strategy that delivers both winnings but also covers any losses. While looking for a Baccarat game to play, ensure you select a classic version of Baccarat instead of Super 6 or another variation with side bet options. Once you have the basic game knowledge, you can then look into the different variations of the game online and see how they will work for you.

How Baccarat is played

Once you’ve entered a Baccarat table, you will see 3 betting options including Player, Banker, and Tie. With other variants of the game, the Player and Banker might be displayed as Punto and Banco, which means Player and Banker, but is simply Spanish terminology. Some rules may also differ in the Spanish variant such as the number of decks used, side bet options, and more. We recommend starting on a standard Baccarat table with no side bets whatsoever.

Bet	For the first few rounds, place a bet on only Player or Banker, placing a bet on both won’t result in any wins or losses as you will keep receiving your total bet back no matter what wins. However, if a tie win comes up, you will lose your bet. So, choose either Player or Banker and place your coin before hitting the start button.
Deal	When the game begins, the dealer will provide 4 cards on the table. These include 2 for the player and another 2 for a banker. The value of the 2 cards are added together to see the hand value for both player and banker. Here is where the game gets interesting, and players need to understand the game rules. Firstly, any double-digit numbers won’t count. Instead, the “ten” value will be removed from the number, only leaving a single digit number. For example, should a Queen (10) and 7 be in one hand, adding up to 17, the ten value is removed, leaving only 7 as the hand total.
Hit	Other rules simply indicate when an additional card is added to a hand. The most possible cards for each hand is 3. Any hands below 6 will receive another card, and any above 6 will “stand.” The additional card could be a benefit or disadvantage to the hand. For example, should the first 2 cards add up to 5, and the additional card is 7, this would be a hand total of 2 (5 + 7 = 12 – 10 = 2). Once the third card has been added, no additional cards are drawn, and the hands are compared for the highest value.
End hand	Finally, the last important rule of the game, should any hand have a total of 8 or 9, both hands will stand as it would be an automatic win for the Player or Banker holding the 8 or 9. Should either have a total of 6 or 7, the hand will stand. If the value of the hand is below 6 the Player or Banker will hit.

Quick Rule Summary:

1. Baccarat is played with 6 to 8 decks of 52 cards Card values are 1 for Ace, 2 to 10 hold face value, all face cards are valued at 10
2. The game starts once bettors have placed a wager on Player, Banker, or Tie
3. Scores are calculated with added value of cards together and only using the second digit for values over 10
4. Additional cards are not given when either Player or Banker hand has 8 or 9
5. Additional cards are given to hands with values lower than 6
6. Only 1 additional card can be added to a hand to increase the value

Baccarat Strategies

Applying a strategy to your Baccarat game improves your overall winning opportunity. This is possible by covering any losses while still having the added benefit of adding a profit to your balance. Many beginners enter the game by simply wagering on one Player or Banker and end up winning. However, in the long run, your odds of winning are 50% are both betting options offer even money. Strategies apply a betting method to your game. Should a particular event take place such as winning or losing,, the strategy tells you what to do next for the best possible result.

Progressive Baccarat Strategy

The progressive strategy is one of the most popular and oldest systems with games that provide even money, such as Roulette, Blackjack, and Baccarat. The system requires information regarding the table, including the limits such as minimum bet and the highest possible wager allowed by the table. This is important as the lowest bet would set your starting point as a new player, and the maximum bet would indicate how many times you can double up or progress your wager.

Let’s assume the lowest bet on the table is $1.00, which will also represent your starting bet value. Should you win the first hand, simply take the profit and leave the $1 bet on the table. Should you lose, double the bet to $2.00, providing $4 of the hand wins. This will cover the $1.00 bet lost in the round before, return the $2.00 bet placed in the last round, and provide $1.00 in profit. The reason you need to start with the lowest bet is because a few losing hands will result in a much bigger bet as the value is doubled repeatedly. For example, $1.00 would become $2, $4, $8, $16, $32, $64, $128 and so on. However, losing 7 hands repeatedly is unlikely, but still possible. It’s highly recommended to have a higher than usual account balance to ensure all double up bet values are covered.

The final rule of the progressive system is that the same bet needs to be placed until a winning has taken place. For example, should the first bet be placed on Player, do not double up and move to Banker as this could easily result in multiple losing hands, increasing the wager value to massive amounts.

Advanced Progressive Strategy

Using the exact same strategy from above, you can increase the winning values of each round. However, this only works on tables with higher limits and players require a higher account balance. As mentioned above, the regular progressive system only requires you to double the last bet on a losing hand and returning to the lowest bet on a winning hand. Here you would increase your bet more than just double, increasing the wager along with profits.

The regular system would regular a bet of $1.00 to be increased to $2.00, and $4.00 and so on. This will result in a profit of $1.00 when you win. The advanced progressive system works the same, but instead of just going to $2.00 from $1.00, you would increase to $3.00, then $6.00, and so on. This small increase would result in a profit of $2. Players who use the system include multiple increase levels, though, meaning the more they risk, the higher the profit. For example, they would start with $1, $3 (instead of $2), $6, $14 (instead of $12), $28, $60 (instead of $56). In the example, 6 hands were played. Should the regular system have been used, all the wager values would have been won back, and a $1 profit would have been created. With the system above, a total of $112 would have been wagered by round 6; the winnings would have been $120, giving the player all the wager values back in full along with an $8 wager amount.

However, keeping track of this system would be a bit more difficult in regards to keeping to the correct value. Luckily with online Baccarat, players are able to use programs such as Excel to keep track of these systems, winnings, and how well it all works.