Baccarat: punto banco at the Queen of Hearts' table

About Baccarat

This is punto banco, the baccarat they deal from Macau to Vegas, set up at the Queen of Hearts' table. Eight decks in the shoe, 500 chips to start you off and a 5 to 500 limit per spot. You pick a side — player, banker or tie — and you can add either pair, which pays 11 to 1. After that nobody decides anything: tens and face cards count zero, the ace counts one, the total is the last digit of the sum, and the drawing table has been the same for a century. What you do with your hands is the squeeze: the cards land face down and your finger bends them open, slowly, until the suit peeks out of the corner. In a hurry? Hit TURN THEM ALL. The classic table pays the banker even money and takes 5% commission; the no-commission table pays clean, but a banker win on 6 pays half. When you have had enough, CASH OUT gets you up from the table: whatever you walk away with is your score.

One of Selminha's ideas

“Baccarat has something no other casino game has: once the chip is down, nobody decides anything else — and people still sit there for hours. What holds them is the ritual of opening the card. At the high-limit tables the bettor bends the card with a finger, slowly, until the suit creeps out of the corner, and the whole room waits. That is what I wanted to bring over: the traditional rules untouched, nothing invented, and the player's finger in the one place where it really matters. I put in both tables the casinos actually run — the classic one, with the 5% commission that is part of the game's identity, and the no-commission one, which trades that commission for a half payout when the banker lands on 6.”

How to play baccarat and what each bet costs you

1. Tap the 5, 25, 100 and 500 chips, then tap the spot you want — PLAYER, BANKER or TIE. The limit is 5 to 500 a spot. Player and banker are two sides of the same hand, so pick one.
2. PLAYER PAIR and BANKER PAIR are separate bets: they hit when that side's first two cards are the same rank, and they pay 11 to 1.
3. DEAL sends the cards out: player, banker, player, banker. They land face down.
4. Drag your finger across a card to bend it open until the suit shows. A quick tap opens it at once, and TURN THEM ALL opens the whole table.
5. Both hands draw on their own: the player draws on 0 through 5 and the banker answers by a fixed table. Eight or nine on the first two cards is a natural and nobody draws.
6. A tie gives the player and banker bets back — they do not lose. NEXT HAND carries on; CASH OUT ends the night and puts what you have on the Top 5.

The rules at this table

The total is the last digit

Tens and face cards count zero, the ace counts one, everything else counts its number. Seven and eight make fifteen, and fifteen becomes 5. Nothing ever busts in baccarat.

A natural ends the hand

Eight or nine on the first two cards is a natural. Nobody draws after a natural, on either side.

The drawing table never changes

The player draws on 0 through 5 and stands on 6 or 7. The banker answers by a table that reads the player's third card — the same table at every baccarat game in the world.

Eight decks in the shoe

The shoe holds eight decks and gets reshuffled when it runs low.

The bets and what they pay

Player — even money

Pays what you bet. It costs you 1.24% over the long run.

Banker — even money, less 5%

The banker wins a little more often, so the house takes 5% of the win. Even with the commission it is the cheapest bet on the table at 1.06%.

Tie — 8 to 1

Looks like the best deal in the room, but the tie lands on fewer than one hand in ten. It is the most expensive bet here: 14.36%.

Pair — 11 to 1

Hits when one side's first two cards are the same rank. A queen with a king is not a pair, even though both count zero.

Controls on phone and computer

Computer

Tap chips and spots to bet · drag across the card to open it · D deals · A opens the card · ↑ ↓ ← → move between buttons · ENTER chooses · ESC pauses · M toggles sound

Touch

Phone upright and full screen — the table holds both hands with the printing on the felt between them, and sideways there is not enough height for all three. On a tablet the table follows whichever way you are holding it and never asks you to rotate; turn it mid-hand and the game pauses itself while the table is laid out again.

The two tables

Classic

The banker pays even money and the house takes 5% commission on the win. This is baccarat the way it has always been dealt, and the commission is part of the game.

No commission

The banker pays clean, no commission at all — but a banker win on a total of 6 pays half. That is what makes up for the commission it dropped.

Which one to pick

The classic costs you 1.06% and the no-commission one 1.46%. No-commission is quicker to count; classic is cheaper to play.