Baccarat

The origins of the game are disputed. Some sources claim that it dates to the 19th century, Its name and rules suggest it may have been brought over by sailors returning from Asia where similar card games have been played since the early 17th century such as San zhang, Oicho-Kabu, and Gabo japgi. Macao appeared in Europe at the end of the 18th century and was popular for all classes. Its notoriety led to King Victor-Amadeus III banning it in all his realms in 1788. It was the most popular game in Watier's, an exclusive gentlemen's club in London, where it led to the ruin of Beau Brummell. It was declared illegal late in the 19th century, as a gambling game of almost pure chance; however it remained wildly popular in high society, aficionados including the Prince of Wales (the future Edward VII), who was compelled to testify in court following the Royal baccarat scandal of 1890, in which a player was accused of cheating during games held at Tranby Croft in Yorkshire, England. The match in Arthur Schnitzler's 1926 novella Night Games (Spiel im Morgengrauen) contains instructions for Macao under the name of baccarat. Its popularity in the United States waned after the early 20th century. The game still has a following in Continental Europe, especially in Russia. Like Macao and Victoria, baccarat was banned in Russia during the 19th century though the rules continued to be printed in game books. Baccarat has been popular among the French nobility since the 19th century. Later, Chemin de Fer emerged as a two-player zero-sum game from Baccarat Banque. Chemin de Fer is a version which first appeared in the late 19th century. Its name, which is the French term for "railway", comes from the version being quicker than the original game, the railway being at that time the fastest means of transport. This version of baccarat remains the most popular in France. Baccarat Punto Banco, in which the bettor bets on whether the Player or the Banker hand wins, was a significant change in the development of modern baccarat. It developed into a house-banked game in Havana in the 1940s, and is now the most popular modern form in most parts of the world. ==Valuation of hands==

In baccarat, the 2 through 9 cards (of any suit) are worth face value (in points); the 10, jack, queen, and king are worth zero; aces are worth one point; jokers are not used. The value of the hand is the units digit of the sum of the constituent cards, known as modulo ten arithmetic. For example, a hand consisting of 2 and 3 is worth five, while a hand consisting of 6 and 7 is worth three, that being the value of the units digit in the combined point total of thirteen. The highest possible hand value in baccarat is therefore nine. ==Versions==

Punto banco Punto banco is nowadays the most played version of baccarat in the United States. The table is staffed by a croupier, who directs the play of the game, and two dealers who calculate tax and collect and pay bets. Six or eight decks of cards are used, normally shuffled only by the croupier and dealers. The shoe is held by one of the players, who deals the cards on the instructions of the croupier according to the tableau. On a player win, the shoe moves either to the highest winning bettor, or to the next person in clockwise order around the table, depending on the casino's conventions. The shoe may be refused or the croupier may be requested to deal. Odds and strategy Punto banco has both some of the lowest house edges among casino table games, and some of the highest. The player bet has, relative to most casino bets, a low house edge of 1.24%, and the banker bet (accounting for the 5% commission on the win) is even lower, at 1.06%. In contrast, the tie bet, which pays 8-to-1, has a high house edge of 14.4%. Most casinos in the United Kingdom pay the tie at 9-to-1, resulting in a house edge of approximately 4.85%. Card counting can be employed to reduce the house edge by about 0.05%. If paired with a technique known as edge sorting, baccarat players can obtain a significant edge versus the casino. Variations Mini-baccarat is a version of punto banco played on a small table with smaller minimums/maximums. It is popular with the more casual players, particularly those from Asia, where this version is commonly played. A mini-baccarat variation where even money is paid on winning banker bets (rather than 95%), except when the banker wins with 6, in which case the banker bet pays 1-to-2 (50% of the bet), goes under various names including Super 6 and Punto 2000. The house edge on a banker bet under Super 6 is 1.46% compared to regular commission baccarat's 1.058%. This is equivalent to increasing the commission by 17.45% to 5.87%. The banker wins with a 6 about five times in an eight-deck shoe. In addition to its increased house edge, the Super 6 variation is used by casinos for its speed, since it partially does away with the time-consuming process of calculating and collecting commission on winning banker bets except for winning with a 6. In a similar variation called EZ-baccarat, even money is paid on both winning banker or player bets, except when the banker wins with a total of 7 after the third card is drawn, which results in a push on banker bets. The game has two additional options, the Dragon 7, a specific bet of a winning three-card 7 on the banker side, which pays 40-to-1 instead of pushing, and Panda 8, a bet of a winning three-card 8 on the player side, which pays 25-to-1. ====== Six decks of cards are used, shuffled together. Players are seated in random order, typically around an oval table; discarded cards go to the center. Play begins to the right of the croupier and continues counterclockwise. Once play begins, one player is designated as the banker; this player also deals. The other players are "punters". The position of banker passes counterclockwise in the course of the game. In each round, the banker wagers the amount they are willing to risk. Each other player, in order, then declares whether they will "go bank", playing against the entire current bank with a matching wager. A maximum of one player may "go bank". If no one "goes bank", players make their wagers in order. If the total wagers from the players are less than the bank, observing bystanders may also wager up to the amount of the bank. If the total wagers from the players are greater than the bank, the banker may choose to increase the bank to match; otherwise, the excess wagers are removed in reverse play order. The banker deals four cards face-down: two to themselves and two held in common by the remaining players. The player with the highest individual wager (or first in play order if tied for highest wager) is selected to represent the group of non-banker players. The banker and player both look at their cards; if either has an eight or a nine, this is immediately announced and the hands are turned face-up and compared. If neither hand is an eight or nine, the player has a choice to accept or refuse a third card; if accepted, it is dealt face-up. Traditional practice – grounded in mathematics, similar to basic strategy in blackjack, but further enforced via social sanctions by the other individuals whose money is at stake – dictates that one always accept a card if one's hand totals between 0 and 4, inclusive, and always refuse a card if it totals 6 or 7. After the player finishes, the banker, in turn, decides either to accept or to refuse another card. Once both the banker and the representative player have made their decision, the hands are turned face-up and compared. If the player's hand exceeds the banker's hand when they are compared, each wagering player receives back their wager and a matching amount from the bank, and the position of banker passes to the next player in order. If the banker's hand exceeds the player's hand, all wagers are forfeit and placed into the bank, and the banker position does not change. If there is a tie, wagers remain as they are for the next hand. If the banker wishes to withdraw, the new banker is the first player in order willing to stake an amount equal to the current bank total. If no one is willing to stake this amount, the new banker is instead the next player in order, and the bank resets to whatever they wish to stake. Many games have a set minimum bank or wager amount. Unlike punto banco, which is purely a game of chance, chemin de fer includes an element of player skill. Victoria is a variation of Macao where players are initially dealt two cards. ==Economy==

American casinos are generating an increasing amount of their revenue from baccarat play. For example, in May 2012, Nevada only generated 18.3% of its total table gaming win from baccarat. However, in May 2013, this percentage increased to 33.1% and in May 2014 it rose to 45.2%. Baccarat is the most important table game in Macau, with taxes from baccarat play constituting the largest single source of public funding in Macau. About 91% of total income from Macau casinos in 2014 came from the punto banco variation. ==In popular culture==

Royal baccarat scandal The Tranby Croft affair in 1891 and William Gordon Cumming's subsequent lawsuit were known together as the royal baccarat scandal, due to the involvement of the future King Edward VII. Since the Prince of Wales was involved in the incident, it inspired a huge amount of media interest in the game, bringing baccarat to the attention of the public at large. Accounts of the scandal in newspapers also included the rules for the game. The scandal became the subject of music hall songs and a stage play. James Bond Baccarat chemin-de-fer is the favoured game of James Bond, the fictional secret agent created by Ian Fleming. Bond plays the game in numerous novels, Phil Ivey controversy The advantage play technique of edge sorting gained attention in 2012, when a casino in the United Kingdom refused to pay professional gambler Phil Ivey about $11 million, after they determined that he had used the technique to gain an advantage over the house. The same year, Ivey and a female companion won $9.6 million at the Borgata casino in Atlantic City using edge sorting and another $500,000 playing craps using his gains as a stake in the game. The Borgata paid him after his win but then sued Ivey in 2014 after surveillance video showed he had manipulated the dealer into rotating certain cards in the deck to exploit the flaw on the back of the cards. The Borgata prevailed and won $10.1 million, which Ivey refused to pay. In February 2019, the Borgata received approval from the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey to go after Ivey's assets in the state of Nevada, since he had no assets in the state of New Jersey to pursue. Ivey and the Borgata reached a settlement in July 2020. ==References==