Playing Punto Banco

Punto Banco is played traditionally on an oval table. This is similar to the version chemin de fer. The table has a croupier as well as two dealers. The croupier manages the game while the two dealers handle the collection of bets and payout of bets. The dealers also tally the commissions.

There are either six or eight decks used and the croupier or the dealers are the only ones who usually shuffle the cards. Similar to chemin de fer, the shoe will be passed from player to player. The player with the shoe will act as the “dealer” and play the “banker” although this player will not actually be the banker of the game. The banker may be bet on by the player hand if desired or the shoe may be passed to another player. The role of the “banker” is simply a ceremonial role. The player that bets the most on the player hand will be given the cards for the “player” although he will do nothing more than turn them over and announce the total. The croupier will tell the “banker” whether he should deal more cards and then will determine the hand that wins.

This version of baccarat is popular in cities like Atlantic City and Las Vegas where this game is usually played in a roped off or private area. It’s generally in order to ensure increased privacy and security simply because this is usually a very high stakes game. The highest of high rollers play this game and will bet tens of thousands of dollars, and sometimes much more, on a simple hand!

The posted maximums for the game are usually arranged so the player is happy; however it is not uncommon to see maximums reach $10,000 per hand.

Although punto banco is really simple and easy it has one of the lowest house advantages in casino games. The player bet has a low house advantage of about 1.24% while the banker bet is 1.06%, despite the commission of 5%. The house advantage for a tie bet is much higher at 14.44%. These numbers are based on playing with six decks.

Since this game is a favorite by high rollers casinos are known to win millions of dollars in one night or lose that much depending on how the game plays out. It is common for big wins or losses to affect the bottom line of a casino and even be reported on in the quarterly reports of gaming companies that are publicly traded. For example, a net loss of $48.5 million was reported by the Las Vegas Sands Corps from some high stakes games in the baccarat room. The CEO lost $2.1 billion on paper in a single night, which is an amazing drop from a single game of baccarat! That’s how these high stakes games play out sometimes and it is important for both players and casinos to keep this in mind.

Mini baccarat is played on a table much like a blackjack table and there is just one dealer for the whole game who deals the cards. In Mini Baccarat the game is played really fast, at least compared to the big baccarat game. Typically, the betting minimums and maximums are lower and the game is usually played in the open area of the casino. In fact, this is the only version of baccarat that most casinos offer aside from those in Atlantic City and Las Vegas.

Makccarat is another version of baccarat that is played in Macau and the scoring system is the same although the rules and card dealing are different. This version stopped being played in 2008.