Chemin de Fer Baccarat

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Chemin de Fer Baccarat

June 19, 2010

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Chemin de Fer is the most difficult and the most glamorous form of baccarat. In this baccarat variant the bettors bid to be the Banker and the successful bidder accepts bets from the other bettors. He also plays the Banker's hand in which he may be required to take decisions of whether or not to draw a third card. The bettor who wagers the most against the Banker plays the Player's hand and may be called upon to take a similar decision. Therefore unlike in online baccarat, players must understand the calculation of hand values and third card rules in Chemin de Fer.

Calculation of hand values is common to all baccarat variants. Card values have to be first known. Cards from twos to nines have their face values. Aces have a value of 1 and tens, jacks, queens and kings have a value of 0. Hand values are obtained by adding the values of the individual cards and then dropping the tens digit. Therefore the hand values are constrained between 0 and 9.

The Player and the Banker are first dealt two cards each. The Player has to make his move first. If the Banker has a hand value of 8 or 9, known as a natural in Chemin de Fer, the Player does not draw a third card. If the Player has a hand value between 6 and 9 then too he does not draw a third card. If the Player has a hand value between 0 and 4 then he has to draw a third card. If the Player has a hand value of 5 then it is up to him whether or not to draw the third card. This last rule differentiates Chemin de Fer from other variants of baccarat. In all other variants the Player has to draw if his hand value is 5.

After the Player has made his move it is the Banker's turn. The Banker's rules for the third card are more complex. If the Player has not drawn a third card then the Banker follows the same rules as the Player. These have been described in the preceding paragraph. If the Player draws a third card then the Banker follows the following rules.

If the Banker's hand value is from 0 to 2 he always draws and if his hand value is from 7 to 9 he always stands. If the Banker's hand value is 3 - he draws if the Player's third card has a value is from 0 to 7; he does not draw if the Player's third card has a value of 8 and has a choice of drawing or not if the Player's third card has a value of 9. If the Banker's hand value is 4 - he draws if the Player's third card has a value is from 2 to 7 and does not draw for any other value of the Player's third card. If the Banker's hand value is 5 – he has a choice of drawing or not if the Player's third card has a value of 4; he draws if the Player's third card has a value is from 5 to 7 and does not draw for any other value of the Player's third card. If the Banker's hand value is 6 - he draws if the Player's third card has a value is from 6 to 7 and does not draw for any other value of the Player's third card. The two instances where choices are given to the Banker are there only in Chemin de Fer. In other baccarat variants the Banker has to draw a third card on these occasions.