Learn To Play Better Baccarat at bet365 Games with These Hints and Tips

One of the most famous ‘moments’ in the history of online gaming was the poker boom of the early 2000s. Suddenly, it seemed as if the world had gone crazy for Texas Hold’em Poker in particular and in a relatively short space of time, membership at online poker rooms, as well as the number of rooms available, increased greatly as many people were bitten by the poker bug.

Poker still remains popular to this day as an online past time but what we are seeing now is that more and more people who signed up initially to play poker are trying their hand at something different. In casino gaming, if there is one game that is perhaps underused by players, perhaps because they are not as familiar with the game or rules as they are poker, it is baccarat.

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So what is it about baccarat that has made it such an appealing game for players to try at casinos? In this article, we’ll learn a little more about the game, its lengthy history and also how to play a cracking version of the game available right now at bet365 Games.

A brief history of baccarat

Baccarat was first created over 500 years ago in Italy. Back then it was called ‘baccara” which is the Italian word for ‘zero’, so named because the ten, jack, queen and king cards were all worth zero in the game. The game then spread from Italy to Europe, namely into France where it was hugely popular and went initially under the name “Chemin de Fer”. The game also spread to England and then from there into the New World and beyond.

How do you play baccarat?

One of the first rules of baccarat is to understand it is a game where a player does not need to have any ability in the game to play. The way a hand of baccarat progresses is dependent upon a number of rules in the game which the banker (the casino) will follow based on the two hands that are visible. As such, this means that a player doesn’t need any skill requirement to play the game, but instead is just betting on the outcome of the hand.

Essentially, a player doesn’t win money by winning the hand, unless they back the player to win. You can actually back the banker to win and if the banker wins the hand, you will win. Or the hand can, in rarer circumstances, be a tie.

Essentially there are just five main rules of baccarat that you need to understand the basic game (we will look at some of the other betting variants available when we focus on the game available at bet365 Games).

These five main rules are as follows:

• Each game of baccarat is played with a total of six decks of 52 cards.
• Before every hand, the cards are shuffled.
• The suits of the cards have no relevance and play no part in Baccarat.
• Each card in the pack is assigned a numeric value. The ace is valued at 1, with the cards from the 2 through to the 9 all valued at their face value. The ten, jack, queen and king cards are all assigned a value of zero.
• If at any point in the hand the total value of the cards in your hand exceeds nine, then the count rolls around to the beginning again, so for example, if you are dealt a 6 and a 7 in your hand, your value is not 13, but instead it is three. If you are dealt a pair of sixes, it is not 12, but 2 and so forth.

As you can see, there is a simple element of counting in Baccarat which the good news is, only the banker needs to keep tabs on. But what does this counting mean and how does it relate to the hands dealt to the dealer and banker?

• Playing a hand of baccarat

The great news for people worried that they may be at a disadvantage when playing baccarat against the casino, is that you don’t need to know any strategy for the game. Each hand is played to a set of rules based on the value of the cards the player and the dealer hold and how they compare to each other.

To summarise, these rules are as follows:

• The player places a bet on whether they think the player or banker will win the hand, or if it will be a tie.
• The player and dealer are dealt two cards face up to start the hand.
• If either the player or dealer’s hand adds up to a total of eight or nine points, this is called a Natural and this will end the game with the player with the higher value hand being declared the winner.
• If neither player has a Natural, but the player has a score of 6 or 7, then they will Stand on this score, which means that they will not draw any additional cards.
• If the player’s hand is valued at 5 or less, then the player will be drawn a card automatically. Once a card is added their point total is calculated. The same rules about standing on 6 or 7 or ending the game with a Natural score of 8 or 9 apply. A player can have up to six cards in their hand to calculate their score.
• If a player’s stands or has a score below 5, then the dealer will draw cards to their pack to get a score. If the dealer scores a Natural or a score better than a player’s value, the hand will end. If the dealer draws all their available cards and the players hand is still higher in value, the player wins. Or the game can end in a tie.
• Once the hand has been decided, the winning bets are paid out and the cards shuffled and a new hand begins.

One of the nice things about the game of baccarat available at bet365 Games is that it offers some additional bets in addition to the standard trio of bets in the game.

Additional baccarat bets you can back using bet365 Games version of the game

Alongside the three standard bets you can make on a hand, you can also place four other side bets in bet365 Games version of baccarat, these are:

• Player Pair – A bet on whether the player will be dealt the two face up cards as a pair of the same rank (for example, two queens).
• Banker Pair – A bet on whether the banker will be dealt two cards of the same value.  
• Either Pair – A bet on whether the two face up cards dealt to the player and the two dealt to the banker can be combined to allow any two of those cards to make a pair. For example, if the player is dealt a 7 and a 3, and the banker is dealt a 4 and a 7 the two sevens can be combined for a pair.
• Perfect Pair – A bet on if either the Player or Banker’s first two cards form a perfect pair, such as two of the ace of spades being dealt to the Player, or two of the three of diamonds being dealt to the banker.

Once you understand these basic rules of baccarat, you can simply make your bets in the game and then sit back and watch the action unfold automatically, as you would when playing a game of roulette or a slot.

Baccarat is a hugely popular game, especially in the far east and huge amounts of money can be wagered on hands by high rollers. It is one of the more player-friendly games at the casino, especially if you stick to the banker or player bets, and as such, is one game you should be willing to try.