A total of four cards are initially dealt out of a shoe by the dealer or a player in the game. The first and third cards are the Player's hand and the second and fourth are the Banker's hand. The Player's hand will be left face down and delivered to the player in the game with the highest wager on the Player's hand. The Banker's hand will be left face down under a corner of the shoe until the Player's hand is exposed, returned to the center of the table and placed in the area designated as PLAYER. The Banker's hand will then be exposed and placed in the area designated as BANKER. Once the initial cards are in place, the dealer announces the totals for each hand, and additional cards are then drawn in accordance with the rules; a maximum of one hit card per hand may be drawn. (The fixed rules of Baccarat never allow for a player to make a hit or stand decision.) Once the outcome of the hand has been decided, the dealer will pick up all losing bets and then pay all winning bets.

If you win with a bet on either the Banker's or the Player's hand, your bet will be paid even money. If you win with a bet on the Banker's hand, you will be charged a 5% commission on your winnings. If both hands tie neither hand wins or loses, and all bets made on the tie win. A tie bet is paid at 9 for 1 odds.

The object of Baccarat is to bet on which hand will have the highest value. The highest hand in Baccarat is 9 and the lowest is 0. Tens, Jacks, Queens and Kings are counted as zero, an ace counts as one and all other cards count their face value. When totaling the cards on each hand, only the right-hand number of the total figure is used to determine the hand's value.

EXAMPLE:
7 + 8 = 15 K + 5 + 6 = 11