Baccarat is an easy game to play. The rules determine all aspects of play – there is no choice, no strategy and no subtleties to the game. If not for the stakes involved, the game would not attract much of a following. While Mini-Baccarat has made the game more accessible to casual players, in full-blown Baccarat the stakes can be enormous; and it is not unusual for thousands of dollars to be wagered on one hand.

As many people new to Baccarat are already familiar with the game of Blackjack, some comparisons between the two games can be made:

• Like Blackjack, the object of the game is to get closer to a value than the dealer (banker). In Blackjack the target number is twenty-one, while in Baccarat the target number is nine.
• Unlike Blackjack, players cannot bust (go over the target value). The game is played modulo 10, which means if your hand exceeds 10 – then 10 is subtracted from the total to come up with a value between 0 and 9.

Only one player at a time is dealt cards, but any player at the table can bet on the player or the banker to win, or for a tie. Wagers are made by placing chips in the appropriate spot/place on the Baccarat table.

To start, both the player and the banker receive two cards dealt face down. The player goes first, if they have a natural (8 or 9) the cards are turned up immediately, and the player wins unless the dealer also has an 8 or 9. If both the dealer and the player have the same value, a tie is declared and the bets are returned to their owners. If the player doesn’t have a natural, then the following rules apply.