Baccarat is the enigmatic card game that many associate with high rollers and luxury casinos. It has a reputation for sophistication and elegance that evokes images of men in tuxedos and women in posh evening gowns laying down chips as the dealer distributes cards. However, Baccarat is an easy game to learn and can be enjoyed by players of all levels of gaming expertise.

It is a table game played with eight standard decks of 52 cards and the goal is to correctly predict which of the two hands will win or whether it will be a tie. The values of the cards are determined by adding the numbers together, with only the rightmost digit taken into account. The hand with the higher value wins. For example, a pair of 2 and 7 is worth eight points, while a pair of 10 and 6 is only six points. The game originated in Italy and France, and is now a major casino game in Asia, and has been growing rapidly in popularity in the United States as well.

A streamlined version of the game that is now offered at a number of online and brick and mortar casinos has been adopted in the US, where it is usually known as Punto Banco. While this is a different form of the game than the one that Phil Ivey won millions on, it is still based on the same rules. The main difference is that the Banker and Player hands are able to draw a third card.

Before any cards are dealt, the players place their bets on which hand they believe will win: The Banker’s hand, the Player’s hand or the Tie bet. The dealer will then reveal four cards in total, two cards for the Player’s hand and two cards for the Banker’s hand. Once all of the cards have been dealt, a winning hand is determined by who has the highest combined total.

If the Banker’s hand has a total of nine, it is a natural and wins. A Banker’s hand with a total of eight is also a natural, while a hand with seven is a tie. The other option is the Player’s hand, which has a better chance of winning. In fact, the only way to lose a Baccarat round is if the Player’s hand has a total of nine.

The payouts for Baccarat are based on the odds of each bet, with the Banker’s bet having the lowest house edge. A winning Banker’s bet pays 1:1, while a winning Player’s bet pays 8:1. The Tie bet is not profitable and should only be used as a small part of your overall strategy.