The players at a baccarat table aren’t exactly putting a dent in Caesars Palace’s long-term profits, but the game still draws a premium segment of customers. It’s not unusual for a single player to wager $100,000 per hand. That’s the kind of mega-wager that can make or break a casino’s high-limit business. And it is the reason why many operators treat baccarat differently than they do other table games.
A baccarat game features from seven to 14 seats for players, and one area for the dealer. The game is dealt two hands of cards each round, a player’s hand and a banker’s hand. The goal is to bet on the hand that has a total closest to nine, with picture cards (spades, hearts, clubs, and diamonds) worth zero points and aces counting as one point.
As the game is played, a scoreboard shows the results of each hand. The player and banker’s winning hands are displayed in a vertical column, while the losing hand is displayed horizontally below it. The scoreboard is the source of much baccarat speculation, as players watch the scores and try to figure out whether the banker or player has a better chance of winning.
Another way casinos use the scoreboard is to advertise a “free hand,” a hand that’s dealt without bets being placed. This allows a dealer to fix a mistake he or she may have made during a hand. This is a standard error procedure in blackjack, but it isn’t used in baccarat as frequently.
When a free hand is dealt, the dealer will place the incorrect card aside and deal a new hand. The dealer will then replace the card that was mistakenly discarded, and the new hand will be treated as a regular hand for all betting purposes. This procedure prevents customers from being able to identify the mistake and exploit it.
During the course of a game, the dealer will shuffle the deck twice. The first shuffle involves arranging the cards into a 3-3-2 pattern, while the second shuffle involves placing the cards in a 1-1-3-2-3-6-5-6-7 pattern. This process is done to reduce the likelihood of the player or banker making a mistake while reducing the number of cards that can be re-dealt.
Many baccarat dealers will draw the third card only when the player or banker’s total is 2 or lower. They will draw the third card when the player or banker has a total of 3 or higher, but they will never draw the third card when the player or banker’s totals are 4 or lower.
The banker side pulls the cards last, which gives it a slight edge over the player’s hand. But the prevalence of ties messes with the odds, and players have to keep track of who wins each time. That’s why some players keep a running total, arguing that they can see trends over time and bet on the winner. Others are more discreet, watching for the appearance of a winning hand before making their bets.