Global Sports: Playing Punto Banco Baccarat:Need-to-know Essentials

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Playing Punto Banco Baccarat:Need-to-know Essentials

By Bob Banburry


Depending on your age, you may recall that in the first modern-day iteration of James Bond (we're talking about the Daniel Craig era of the films) there is a large part of the movie that centers on poker. It's the table equivalent of fists and guns, except that Bond and his nemesis are stationed at the poker table, armed with fancy suits and fast comebacks.

But did you know that in the original novel, Casino Royale, by Ian Fleming, Bond doesn't face off with the central antagonist in a poker game. Rather, Fleming chose Baccarat to stage this grand interaction. It's perplexing that the film's producers weren't faithful to Fleming's vision, because Baccarat can be an immensely exciting game that's closely associated with high class, high bankrolls, and high-stakes.

Fleming seemed to like Baccarat so much that it became Bond's game of choice in a number of later novels, including On Her Majesty's Secret Service, For Your Eyes Only, and in the film Goldeneye.

We're going to share with you a few pointers about baccarat that will help you live glamorously and a little bit dangerously.
One Game, Two Hands

Baccarat makes use of two hands: the punto or player hand, and the banco or banker hand. It's important to realize that these are just two names for two different hands. They are not representative of the person making the bet. In other words, a player could wager on either the player hand or the banker hand. The bank and is not the house, and the casino's edge is built into the operation of both of these hands working together.

The player hand is always played first. Should the player score a total of 8 or 9 then he is said to have scored a natural and gets no more cards. If however the player hand as a two-card total of between zero and five inclusive, then he draws the card unless the banker hand hits a natural.

Banker hands tend to be a little more complex than the player equivalent. The banker must stand on a 7, 8, 9, But he must draw on a 0, 1, 2. However, things aren't so simple because the rules governing whether or not the banker must draw a third or more cards derive directly from the player hand's totals. The banker must hit until three cards unless the player's third card is an 8. He must hit to four cards unless the players third card is a 1, 8, 9 or 10. The banker must hit five cards if the player hand's third hit is a fall, 5, 6 or 7. Finally, the banker hand must hit to six cards if the player hand's third card is a 6 or 7.

As you can see, the banker hand can get a little tricky, but it's essential that you understand the systems and procedures of how baccarat works so that you know exactly what to expect at any moment in the game. Dealers do make mistakes. Not often, but they aren't robots and when your money is on the line you want to make sure the dealer knows what he's doing every step of the way.




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