Hi! I'm Steve Bourie author of the American Casino
Guide. For the past 25 years it's been the number
one best-selling book about casino gambling and travel and the only book that comes with more than $1,000 in casino coupons. Each month we upload a new video about how casinos work and how you can win. So, if you want to learn how to be a better
gambler, be sure to subscribe to our channel. And, don't forget that we have a free app. Just search for "American Casino Guide" in
the App Store, or Google Play Store to download it to get details on all U.S. casinos, plus
tips for playing and free casino coupons. This video was shot at the Green Valley Ranch Resort, Spa and Casino in Henderson, Nevada, just a few miles from the Las Vegas Strip. This luxurious resort has been awarded four-diamond status by AAA and is part of the Station Casinos Group, which has won numerous "Best of Las Vegas" awards. Be sure to stop by Green Valley Ranch on your
next trip to Las Vegas to take advantage of its first-class hotel and dining amenities,
coupled with excellent value for your gambling dollar. The game of Baccarat, which is sometimes known
as Punto Banco, has always had a reputation as being for the richest gamblers and that
usually scared off the average player, but nowadays more and more people are discovering
that Baccarat is really a good game for the small stakes player because 1. It has a relatively small advantage for the
casino and 2. It's very simple to play. Some of the fancier casinos, such as Caesars
Palace, or Bellagio, will offer some large baccarat tables that can seat up to 14 players,
but most casinos will only offer a mini-Baccarat table which can seat up to eight players and
the game is played pretty much the same, except that in the mini version all of the hands
are dealt out by the dealer and the players never touch the cards. Other than that, the rules are virtually the
same. Oh yes, one other difference you'll find is
that betting minimums will always be lower on mini-Baccarat and it's usually pretty easy
to find a table with a $10 minimum. Now, as noted before, the game of Baccarat
is very simple to play and that's because the only decision you have to make is what
bet you want to make from the three that are available: player, banker or tie. After the players make their bets the game
begins and two 2-card hands are dealt from a shoe that usually contains 8 decks of cards. One hand is dealt for the banker and another
hand is dealt for the player. The values of the two cards in each hand are
added together and the object of the game is to have a total as close to 9 as possible. After the values of the first two cards in
each hand are totaled, a third card can be drawn by either the player, the banker or
both. But, the decision as to whether or not a third
card should be drawn is not decided by the dealer or the players - it is only decided
by the rules of the game. All of the 10's and all of the face cards
are counted as zeros, while all of the other cards from ace though 9 are counted at their
face value. So, a hand of Jack, 6 has a total of 6; 10,4
has a total of 4; 10, 7 has a total of 7; and ace, queen which would be a great hand
in blackjack, only has a total of 1. The other thing about adding the cards together
is that no total can be higher than 9. So, if a total is 10 or higher you have to
subtract 10 to determine its value. For example, 8 and 8 totals 16 but you subtract
10 and your total is 6; 9,5 has a total of 4; 8,3 has a total of 1; and 5,5 has a total
of 0. Once again, the object of the game of Baccarat
is to have a total as close to 9 as possible, so after the first two cards are dealt if
either the player or banker hand has a total of 9 then that's called a “natural” and
that hand is the winner. If neither hand has a total of 9 then the
next best possible hand is a total of 8, which is also called a “natural,” and that hand
would be the winner. If both the player and the banker end up with
the same total then it's a tie and neither hand wins. Now, if neither hand has an 8 or 9 then the
rules of the game have to be consulted to decide whether or not a third card is drawn. Once that's done, the values of the cards
are added together again and whichever hand is closest to a total of 9 is the winner. If both hands end up with the same total then
it's a tie and neither hand wins. If you want to bet on the player hand just
put your money in the area marked "player" and if you win you'll be paid off at even-money,
or $1 for every $1 you bet. The casino advantage on the player bet is
1.24%. If you want to bet on the banker hand you
would place your bet in the area marked "banker" and if you win, you'll also be paid off at
even-money, but you'll have to pay a 5% commission on the amount you win. So, if you won $10 on your bet, you would
owe a 50¢ commission to the house. The 5% commission is only required if you
win and not if you lose. The dealer will keep track of the amount you
owe by putting an equal amount in a small area on the table that corresponds to your
seat number at the table. So, if you're sitting at seat #3 and won $10
on the bank hand the dealer would pay you $10 and then put 50¢ in the #3 box. This lets him know how much you owe the casino
in commissions and when you get up to leave the table you'll have to pay the dealer whatever
amount is in that box. After adjusting for that 5% commission the
casino advantage on the banker bet is 1.06% Finally, if you want to bet on a tie you would
place your bet in the area marked "tie" and if you win you'll be paid off at 8-to-1, or
$8 for every $1 you bet. The big payoff sounds nice but actually this
is a terrible bet because the casino advantage is a very high 14.36% and this bet should
be avoided. As you've seen, the casino advantage in Baccarat
is very low , except for the tie bet, and the rules are set in advance so no decisions
are made by either the players or the dealer about how to play the cards. This means that, unlike blackjack where you
have to decide whether or not you want another card, you have no decisions to make and no
skill is involved. This also means that Baccarat is purely a
guessing game, so even if you've never played the game before you can sit at a table and
play just as well as anyone who's played the game for 20 years! This is the only game in the casino where
this can happen and that's why I tell people that Baccarat is an especially good game for
the beginning player because you need no special knowledge to take advantage of those low casino
edge bets. The only part of Baccarat that gets a little
confusing is trying to understand the rules concerning the draw of a third card, but remember,
the rules are always the same at every table and they'll usually have a printed copy of
the rules at the table and will give you a copy if you ask for it. After playing the game for awhile you'll start
to remember the rules on your own, but until then here's a rundown on how it works: As we said before, if the first two cards
in either hand total 8 or 9, then the game is over and the highest total wins. If the totals are both 8 or both 9 then it's
a tie and neither hand wins. For any other total the rules have to be consulted
and it's always the player hand that goes first. If the player hand has a total of 6 or 7,
it must stand. The only other totals it can possibly have
are 0,1,2,3,4 or 5 and for all of those totals it must draw a card. There, that wasn't too hard to understand
was it? If the player hand has a total of 6 or 7 it
stands and for anything else it has to draw a card. Well, that was the easy part because now it
gets a little complicated. After the player hand is finished the banker
hand must take its turn and if its first two cards total 0,1 or 2 it must draw a card. If its two cards total 7 it must stand . The only other possible totals the bank can
have are 3,4,5 or 6 and the decision as to whether or not a 3rd card is drawn depends
on the 3rd card that was drawn by the player hand. These rules are rather complicated and we
are showing them here on the screen if you want to see what they are for any given situation. There you have it - those are the rules of
Baccarat concerning the draw of a third card. As you saw they were a little complicated,
but remember that you don't have to memorize the rules yourself because the dealer will
know them and play each hand by those rules, but you can always ask for a copy of the rules
at the table to follow along. Now let's try some sample hands: The player
hand has queen,9 for a total of 9 and the banker hand has 10,8 for a total of 8. Which hand wins? Both hands are naturals, but the player hand
total of 9 is higher than the banker hand total of 8, so the player hand is the winner. If the player hand has queen,6 for a total
of 6 and the banker hand has ace, jack which equals 1, what happens? The player hand must stand on its 6 and the
banker hand must always draw when it has a total of 0,1 or 2. So if the bank hand draws a 10, then the player
hand wins 6 to 1. What happens when the player hand has 10,
5 and the bank hand has 6,10? The player hand must draw and let's say it
gets a 7 for a total of 2. The banker hand has a total of 6 and if it
could stand on that total it would win because its 6 is higher than the 2 held by the player. Of course, if you were betting on banker that's
exactly what you would want to happen but, unfortunately for you, the rules require the
bank hand to draw another card whenever its first two cards total 6 and the third card
drawn by the player is a 7. So now, instead of having a winning hand you
have to hope that the card you draw isn't a 4 or 5, which would both make you a loser. You also wouldn't want to draw a 6 because
that would give you a total of 2 which would give you a tie. In this case the bank hand goes on to draw
a 4 which gives it a total of 0 and it loses 0 to 2. All right, now that you know how to play Baccarat
we come to the important question which is - how do you win? Well, as I said before, if you bet on player
you'll only be giving the casino a 1.24% edge and if you bet on banker you'll be giving
the casino an even more modest edge of just 1.06%. While both of these are pretty low edges to
give the casino you are still stuck with the fact that the casino will always have an edge
over you and in the long run the game of Baccarat is unbeatable. So, if that's the case then how do you win? Well, the answer to that is very simple - You
have to get lucky! And that's the ONLY way you can win at Baccarat. Of course, this is easier said than done,
but fortunately, in the game of Baccarat, you have the option of making two bets that
require no skill and both offer the casino a very low edge especially when you compare
them to roulette where the house has a 5.26% advantage on a double-zero wheel and slot
machines where the edge is about 5% to 15%. I always stress the point that when you gamble
in a casino you have to play the games that have the lowest casino edge in order to have
the best chance of winning and with that in mind you can see that Baccarat is not that
bad a game to play for the recreational gambler. Now let's take a quick look at one of the
most common systems for betting on Baccarat. One thing that many Baccarat players seem
to have in common is a belief in streaks and the casinos accommodate these players by providing
scorecards at the table that can be used to track the results of each hand. Many players like to bet on whatever won the
last hand in the belief that it will continue to come in and they hope for a long streak. The thinking for these players is that since
Baccarat is purely a guessing game it's just like guessing the outcome of a coin toss and
chances are that a coin won't alternately come up heads, tails, heads, tails, heads,
tails but rather that there will be streaks where the same result will come in for awhile. So, is this a good system? Well, actually, it's no better and no worse
than any other system because no matter what you do you'll still have the same casino edge
going against you on every bet you make: 1.24% on the player and 1.06% on the banker. The one good thing about a system like this
though is that you don't have to sit there and guess what you want to play each time. Instead, you go into the game knowing how
you're going to play and you don't have to blame yourself if your guess is wrong, instead
you get to blame it on your system! That's all you need to know about how to play
and how to win at Baccarat. Thanks for watching and best wishes for good
luck in the casino.
