Baccarat is the card game of choice for high rollers. In fact, the game is so associated with luxury that it was even featured in the 2013 movie “The Great Gatsby.” But despite its reputation for exclusivity, the rules of the game are actually quite simple. As long as you follow the fixed set of rules that dictate when a third card is drawn, the only decisions you have to make are which hand to bet on and how much to wager.
From sticky-floor California card rooms to the tuxedo-laden casinos of Monaco, baccarat has a special place in the hearts of casino-goers. Its sleek, Bond-dipped mystique draws in players from all walks of life, but most have never mastered the game.
If you’re a beginner, baccarat can be intimidating at first. The table is filled with from seven to 14 seats for players and a dealer’s area, but the game itself is actually quite simple: Players bet on either the Player or Banker hand, and whoever wins is the one that comes closest to nine (picture cards count as zero, and tens and aces count as one). The dealer deals two cards to each hand, and if they total eight or nine (known as a “natural”), the game is over and all bets are paid. If either hand totals less than eight, a third card is drawn.
The game originated in Europe in the 1400’s and became popular in North America in the 19th century as a result of King Charles VIII’s favorite French player, François Falguiere. In the United States, it was adapted as Punto Banco and exploded in popularity, becoming the game of choice among high rollers. The name “baccarat” is believed to come from the Italian word for “baccarat”, but it may also be a derivation of the Portuguese word for eight, baccarat.
According to Bill Zender, a former Nevada Gaming Control Agent, casino dealer, executive, and consultant who literally wrote the book on managing casino games, baccarat’s appeal to high rollers is largely due to cultural factors. He says that Asian high rollers have made baccarat the game of choice because it suits their cultural preferences. Moreover, he notes that the game has one of the lowest hold percentages in the industry: about 1.2 percent on the Player and Banker bets. A third bet, a tie, pays off eight to one, but has a higher house edge of over 14 percent.
Unlike blackjack, where you can learn strategies that minimize the casino’s edge, most baccarat players can only articulate their strategy after the fact — and many are reluctant to discuss it in public. But a few of these players, like the man we’ll call Francois, have developed a system that works for them and is able to keep them out of the blackjack pits. He won’t give away the details, but he does say that he has a winning formula. So how does he do it?