Baccarat is one of the world’s most popular casino games. Its roots are in Europe but it has gained a huge following in Asia over the last thirty years and is now making inroads in the US. This specialized card game may seem intimidating to casual casino-goers but it’s actually one of the easiest table games to play, even for beginners.

Baccarat tables feature seven to 14 seats and a dealer area. Players place chips on either the player’s hand, banker’s hand or a tie bet. The winning hand is the one with a final total closest to nine. Face cards count as zero points and aces as one point. Numbered cards two through nine count their face value and tens, jacks, queens and kings count as the number over 10 (ex: a six and a four counts as 16).

After placing bets, the dealer deals each of the player’s and banker’s hands based on a set of rules. Each of these hands is compared and the one with the highest total wins. If the player or banker’s hand has a total of eight or nine, the cards are revealed and the winning hand is determined right away. If the hand totals more than nine, the first digit must be dropped (ex: a seven and an eight would be a 15).

A bet on the player’s hand is almost a coinflip since the game has no house edge. It’s usually better to bet on the banker hand, however, since it has a lower commission and can pay out in just seconds. The banker side is also a good choice when using betting strategies that require even money payouts.

Besides player and banker bets, there are a few other side bets available on most baccarat tables. Some of these bets offer high payouts and others come with a very high house edge. Those who choose to wager on these bets should carefully check the payouts and house edges before making their decisions.

A few baccarat players prefer to employ a strategy known as the Martingale system in their gameplay. This involves doubling the size of each bet after every loss. The idea behind this system is that a win will eventually recoup all previous losses and provide a profit equal to the initial bet. The drawbacks of this strategy are that it requires a very large bankroll and requires considerable discipline. For this reason, it’s best to avoid using the Martingale strategy unless you have the proper financial resources for the task.