Baccarat

Pronounced Bah-cah-raht.

A card game played at Nevada casinos. Baccarat consists of three popular variants, but the version Punto banco (or "North American baccarat") is the version played in Nevada casinos, specifically Reno and Las Vegas. Baccarat is usually a high stakes game that requires large bets thus usually attracting wealthy players. In turn, a casino may win or lose millions of dollars a night on a single game. Ostensibly due to the high stakes often involved, baccarat is usually separated from the main casino floor in special rooms, particularly in Las Vegas, to provide an extra measure of privacy and security. Minimum bets usually start at $25, increasing up to $500 for a single hand. "Max bets" are often arranged to suit a player, but maximums of $10,000 bets per hand aren't uncommon.

How to play
The full-scale version of Nevada-style baccarat is strictly a game of chance with no skill or strategy involved. In fact, it is the only game in the casino with an almost guaranteed loss for the player. Although players can make choices, each move is forced by the cards the player is dealt. In turn, "the bank," has a distinct advantage with a house edge no lower than around 1 percent. Baccarat simply compares cards between two hands: the "player" and the "banker," with three possible outcomes -- "player" (player has a higher score), "banker," (house has a higher score), and a "tie."

The player is dealt cards from a shoe containing 4-8 decks of cards shuffled together. The number of decks in a shoe is dependent on the casino. Then, a colored piece of plastic is used in shuffling, placed in front of the seventh-last card, and the drawing of the cut-card indicates the last "coup," or group of cards, in the shoe. For each coup, two cards are dealt face up (or equivalent) to each hand, starting from "player" and alternating between the hands ...

Casinos often imply this formula for rules of the game ...

- If either the Player or Banker or both achieve a total of 8 or 9 at this stage, the coup is finished and the result is announced: Player win, a Banker win, or a tie.

- If neither hand has eight or nine, the drawing rules are applied to determine whether Player should receive a third card. Then, based on the value of any card drawn to the player, the drawing rules are applied to determine whether the Banker should receive a third card.

- The coup is then finished, the outcome is announced, and winning bets are paid out. Each card is given a value, similar to the way card counting takes place.