Baccarat Hand Values

Learning the rules and hand values of baccarat cards brings a better understanding of the game of baccarat.

Baccarat is like no casino game in existence, it has a similar aim to blackjack but with very different rules, it's a game of chance like roulette, but with much better odds. The first step to understanding this wonderful game is to understand how the baccarat hand values work, and then the rest will all start falling into place.

The aim of the game of baccarat is to get as close as possible to the value of 9 without going over it, but unlike in blackjack where you just bust out if you go over the desired number the baccarat hand values don't allow you to do this.

Baccarat hand values – the cards

Baccarat is played with varying numbers of regular 52 card decks, but the values of those cards are like in no other game. With baccarat hand values, aces are always worth the value of 1, and the picture cards and the 10 are always with zero. All the other cards are worth what their face value shows – 2 is worth two, 3 three etc. the other thing to know is that baccarat hand values are not effected at all by the suits. In baccarat hand values all the suits are valued equally thus making no difference between them.

Baccarat hand values – adding up the cards

So, the two baccarat hands are dealt, one to the Banker, and one to the Player, we must now understand what the values of those hands are. As we've already seen there are no choices to be made in making up the baccarat hand values – there are no floating numbers that can be taken as low or high, so what you have is what you have. Therefore, all you need to do is add up the values of the cards showing, remembering that the 10 and picture cards are worth zero, and that the ace is worth 1. However, it's not quite as simple as that. If a baccarat hand comes to a value of more than 9, the first figure of the complete value is dropped. Therefore if a 7 and a 6 are dealt, there is technically a hand of 13; however this value is in the double figures so the first figure, the 1, is dropped leaving you with a baccarat hand value of 3.

Baccarat hand values – some examples

The dropping of the first figure can take some getting used to but once you do it is actually very simple. Here's some basic examples of baccarat hand values for you to look over and familiarize yourself with the outcomes – as you read over them, try to figure out why the baccarat hand values are as they are.