text: Baccarat is the game of choice for high rollers in opulent casinos, and even non-gamblers have heard of it in movies, from the sticky-floor California card room portrayed by Sean Connery in the first James Bond movie to the glitzy tuxedo-clad casino in Monaco where Bond plays his first hand. But despite its mystique, it’s actually a pretty simple and fun game to play. And, with some practice and a few tips, you’ll be playing like a pro in no time.
  The game’s rules are quite straightforward: players place their chips in the player, banker or tie area, depending on who they think will win. Two cards are dealt to both the player and banker hands, and the winner is the one closest to nine points. There are some precise rules about how the hand is scored, and a third card is sometimes drawn in either the player or banker hand depending on the total score.
  If the player or banker wins, the winnings are determined by the table’s payouts: the player’s hand is awarded 9 points, the banker’s is 8, and a tie pays 8:1. In addition, there are a few side bets that you can make on the deal, although these vary by establishment or platform.
  The simplest way to understand the odds of winning at baccarat is to compare them to those of other card games. For example, a ten-card hand beats an eight-card hand in poker, and a six-card hand is better than a five-card hand in blackjack. However, in baccarat, a nine-card hand is an exception to this rule and has the best odds of beating any other hand in the game.
  Baccarat has a number of variations, but the basic game is played with from seven to 14 players and a dealer’s area. Each player has a betting box to choose from, and they must place their bets before the dealer deals the cards. The goal is to bet on the player’s, banker’s or a tie hand and win by predicting which of these three will have the highest score.
  The game uses a standard eight-deck shoe and all cards count as their face value except for the ace, which is worth one point. The croupier deals out two cards to each of the two hands and, if the total of the player’s and banker’s cards is nine or closer, the hand is the winner. Otherwise, the cards are re-dealt until one of the hands has a total of nine or closer. The croupier will then announce the outcome of the hand and pay out winning bettors. If the croupier announces that the tie has won, he will collect the stakes of the players who bet on the player’s or banker’s hand. If he announces the win of the banker’s hand, he will take the winning bets from the player’s boxes. The rest of the bets will be returned to the player. The croupier will also take the winning bets from the tie boxes if there are any.