If you’re looking to sit down at a Las Vegas casino table game with few complexities and a lot of James Bond-style gambling fun, baccarat is your go-to game. There are three possible outcomes—a player win, a banker win and a tie—and the dealer pretty much does all the work.
As host Jeff Civillico explains in the how-to video below, players bet either on the player’s side, the “banker” (aka the dealer) side or for a tie. Cards two through nine are face value, while a 10, jack, queen and king cards have a value of zero. An ace is worth one.
The dealer then deals out the cards face up—two each for the player and banker—and whichever hand totals closest to nine wins. If you’ve bet on the player hand and it has the closest to nine, the winnings are simply double what you bet. If you’ve bet on the banker hand and it wins, it pays 95 percent of your wager.
When the cards dealt are greater than nine, you have to add the two together and drop the one (or two) to get the value. For example, a hand of nine and seven cards dealt would add up to 16, and with the first digit dropped, the value in the game is six.
Here are some more rules to help you ace a baccarat game:
- If either the player or banker is dealt a total of eight or nine, both the player and banker stand.
- If the player’s total is five or less, then the player will receive another card. Otherwise, the player will stand.
- If the player stands, then the banker hits on a total of 5 or less.
- The final betting option, a tie, pays out 8-to-1. Conveniently, there are also sheets at the table for you to keep track of your score.
Baccarat is offered at our various casinos throughout Las Vegas, including Caesars Palace, Flamingo, Paris Las Vegas, Planet Hollywood, Bally’s Las Vegas, Rio, Harrah’s and The LINQ Hotel.
