One of the simplest games that you can find in any casino around the world is Baccarat. Ever since it was developed, millions of players got hooked already because of the ease in which one can get acquainted with the game. Due to its rising popularity it spread to other countries including France, Cuba and Argentina. Each of these countries added their own set of rules thereby changing the face of Baccarat along with its name. In Cuba, the name of Baccarat was changed to Punto Banco.

 

Punto Banco has two main betting options – punto or player and banco, which refer to the bank. The Standoff is the term applied to a tie hand and is seldom used. The table used in Punto Banco is big and can accommodate up to 14 players. Players can be the ones to deal the cards or have a dealer in their midst to dole out the cards. In the game, each player including the banker can bet on either the bank hand or the player’s hand, but often than not, the dealer usually bets on the bank. Dealing the cards can be passed from one player to the next in Punto Banco, however, a player can also refrain from becoming the dealer where in the “shoe” will then be passed to the player next to him. When the banco wins, the shoe will stay with one player and when punto wins, the shoe is passed.

 

Basically, you need to place your bet on either the banco or the punto. The difference between the two is that when you bet on banco and you win, there is a 5% charge for commission. When you bet on a standoff which is also called the tie hand, you will get paid 8 times more. Of course, the reason behind this odd is that it is very rare for a tie to happen. The 5% charge on the banco acts as the percent the house will get for hosting the game.

 

A hand in Punto Banco consists of two cards. The dealer will first deal two cards lying face down under the shoe and then proceeds to deal two cards to the person who has the biggest bet on Punto. The player will then look at his or her card and then give it to the one dealing the cards to turn the cards over. The dealer of the casino will be the one to announce whether you won or not. A natural hand is achieved when two cards have the value of nine or eight, nine being the highest. On the event that the two cards didn’t reach nine, a third card can be dealt.

 

These are only some of the things that you should know about when playing Punto Banco. Although there are similarities with the original Baccarat some changes can be noticed. Bear in mind that each kind of Baccarat game has new rules added so make sure that you know them by heart.