Baccarat, or baccara in the French version of the game, is the most popular table game at the top casinos. It traces its roots to Italy, where it became a favorite pastime of nobility and the wealthy. The game spread to France and later gained worldwide fame.

The object of the game is to bet on either the Player Hand or Banker Hand to win. Only two cards are dealt, and each has a designated value. Tens and picture cards have zero points, while numbered cards have their face value and the ace counts as one point. A hand totaling nine or higher wins. If the value of a hand is more than ten, it becomes a double digit and only the second number matters.

There are five types of bets in Baccarat: Player Bet, Banker Bet, Super Six Bet, and Pair Bet. The Super Six Bet pays out 12x the bet amount if the Banker Hand wins with 6 points. The Pair Bet pays out 11x the bet amount if the Banker and Player hands have matching numbers. A third card is drawn if the first two cards are equal to 8 or 9. The game also features an optional side bet, the Tie Bet, which pays out nine times the bet amount if both sides tie.

In addition to the cultural reasons Zender outlined, baccarat is attractive to high rollers because it offers among the lowest house edges in casino games: 1.2 percent on Banker bets and 1.3 percent on Player bets. The game’s low house edge attracts big bettors because it doesn’t change much from round to round, unlike blackjack where the odds are constantly changing.

When players place their bets, the croupier deals out the cards in the Player and Banker boxes. A card is then placed in the Player box, followed by a card in the Banker box, and then repeated until each box has two cards. The croupier announces when the winning bets are made.

When the croupier declares the winner, the winning bettors are paid. Then, a third card is dealt to the hand that won. If the third card makes the winning hand a 9, the game ends and all bets are paid. Otherwise, the croupier will continue to draw and discard cards until a winning bet is made. The game is finished when neither the Player nor the Banker has a nine. The game can last anywhere from seven to 14 rounds. The game was originally played with eight decks of cards, but today the cards are shuffled together before each deal. Baccarat is a fast-paced and fun game to play. The game is simple to learn and requires no prior experience. The game is very popular in Europe, but it’s still relatively new to the United States, where it was introduced in 1958. The American version of the game is different from the European original. The rules are slightly different, but the principle is the same: bet on the hand that has the highest value after all cards are dealt.