Punto Banco

Rules

The object of the game is to have a hand with value closer to 8 or 9 than the hand of the opponent. Initially the player is dealt two cards, then may be dealt one card more for a maximum of 3 cards.

The picture cards and the tens have a value of zero, whilst the cards from 2 through 9 are counted at face value and the value of the Ace equals 1. Should a player have Ace and 4 for example, the value of the hand would be 5. Should the hand value be in double digits, only the second digit represents hand value. For example, the first two cards being 10 and 4, then the hand value is 4. Likewise 5, 10 and 9 add-up to a value of 4.

There are two positions to wager on - the Banker and the Player.

The baccarat rules for American Baccarat, which in Europe we call Punto Banco, are similar to the rules of Chemin de Fer. Unlike in Chemin de Fer however, the players in Punto Banco are limited by the rules to have few choices for their bets – they can bet on the banker or on the player, or they can make a "Tie" bet, which means bet that the banker and the player will end up tied with equal hands.

If a player bets on the bank and wins he has to pay a 5% commission to the house on the winning bet.

The table below summarizes the rules in simple manner:

As you can see from the table above, there are not hits "at will" neither for the banker neither for the player.

Due to such rigid rules, the game is automatic in nature and governed by the baccarat rules only and without any kind of playing decisions on the part of a player or a Banker. The only action required on the part of players is to consider how much to bet and choose punto or banco.

Strategy

The rigid rules of Punto-Banco equally strip the banker and the player of any drawing or standing options - the game is a mechanical process without any playing input from the players during the game. Therefore, there is no possible playing strategy.

Pre-planned betting systems are the only viable option however they have no effect on game percentages.

Most players strictly follow three general principles when using baccarat betting systems:

1. They always increase their bet size when winning;
2. They wager minimal bets when losing;
3. They never fight the trend and switch position after several losses in a row.

Players often attempt betting systems that try to recover the losses of the previous bets, such as the Martingale progression, and numerous variations which work with even money bets - systems like "Paroli", "Garcia", "Labouchere" and many others.

To avoid progression attacks on the simple chances however,  a control system is predisposed that cuts off Martingale-type betting on all tables after the third action; from the fourth action onwards it will only be possible to stake a sum equal to the previous stake plus 50%.

There are different ways in which players choose their bet positions. Some players make the same bet that won previous hand. If the banker won, they again bet on the banker. With this type of selection, players tend to win a lot if there is a winning streak in progress. If the wins fall on the banker and on the player alternately, the players lose a lot.

Other players bet on the opposite to the previous bet. If the previous successful bet has been the player, they bet on the bank. These players will win a lot if the bank and the player win alternately, but loose otherwise.

The well-known “avant-dernier” bet selection method, trying to get the best of both worlds, chooses the winning bet previous to the last one. If the sequence of the decisions was for example b, p, b, p, b, p, b, b, b, b, b, b, the player who would bet according to “avant-dernier”  starting with the third bet, would win all the bets with the exception of the second bet within the streak of the winning bets on the banker.

History

It has been suggested that the origins of Baccarat, of which Punto Banco is a simple variant, can be traced all the way back to specific religious rituals of Etruscan civilization (1500 B.C.)

The purpose of those rituals was to choose the candidate for the position of priestess, according to the result of the throw of a nine-sided die. If the result was 9 or 8 – equal or close to the number of the worshipped gods – the female candidate was approved. The numbers 6 and 7 meant a simple refusal and the lower numbers could lead to the death of the candidate.

Due to the obvious etymological connection between the French word 'Baccarat' and the Italian word 'Baccarà' (meaning 'nothing' or 'zero') it is probable that the origins of the game are its Italian counterpart.

Due to the structural similarity, it is similarly probable that Baccarat evolved from the early versions of Blackjack at the beginning of the 19th century in France during the reign of Louis Philippe (1793 – 1850).

Whatever the case may be, there is no doubt that the French gave the game its modern form and characteristics. The game was very popular among the French nobility in the 16th and 17th centuries when it was played in private houses and at the royal courts.

In the early 1900s Baccarat was the most popular game in the casinos of the French Riviera.

Baccarat appeared in America around 1911-1912 when it was introduced in a few illegal casinos in the state of New York, yet it wasn't until 1958-59 when the executives from Star Dust and Sands reintroduced the game to Las Vegas that the game enjoyed the growing popularity it really deserved.

This was the version known today worldwide as Punto y Banca, or Punto Banco (in english).