BACCARA.

This very popular variation of Vingt-et-un originated in the south of France, and came into vogue during the latter part of the reign of Louis Philippe. It is neither a recreation nor an intellectual exercise, but simply a means for the rapid exchange of money, well suited to persons of impatient temperament. The word “Baccara” is supposed to mean “nothing,” or “zero,” and is applied to the hands in which the total pip value of the cards ends with a cypher.

There are two forms of the game in common use; Baccara a deux tableaux, and Baccara chemin de fer. The first will be first described.

Players. Baccara may be played by any number of persons from three to eleven. Those first in the room have the preference, and should immediately inscribe their names. The first eleven form the table, and the privilege of being the banker is sold to the highest bidder; that is, to the one that will put up the most money to be played for. The remaining ten persons draw for choice of seats at the table, the first choice being for the seat immediately on the right of the banker, then for the first seat on his left. Five players are arranged on each side of the banker in this manner, right and left alternately, according to the order of their choice. Sometimes an assistant or croupier is seated opposite the banker, to watch the bets, gather and shuffle the cards, etc. A waste basket is placed in the centre of the table for the reception of cards that have been used in play.

If no one bids for the bank, it must be offered to the first on the list of players; if he declines, the next, and so on. The amount bid for the bank is placed on the table, and none of it can be withdrawn, all winnings being added to it. If no bid is made, the banker may place on the table any amount he thinks proper, and that amount, or what remains of it after each coup, is the betting limit. When the banker loses all he has, the bank is sold to the next highest bidder, or offered to the next player on the list. If the banker wishes at any time to retire, the person taking his place should begin with an amount equal to that then in the bank.

Counters. Each of the players should be provided with a certain number of counters, all of which must be sold and redeemed by the banker or his assistant.

Cards. Three packs of fifty-two cards each are shuffled together and used as one. The players shuffle as much as they please, the banker last, and the banker then presents them to any player he pleases to have them cut. The banker may burn one or two cards if he pleases; that is, turn them face upward on the bottom of the pack.

Object of the Game. The court cards and Tens count nothing, but all others, including the Ace, are reckoned at their face value. The object is to secure cards whose total pip value will most closely approach the number 8 or 9. An 8 made with two cards is better than a 9 made with three.

Stakes. Each player in turn, beginning with the first one on the right of the banker, and after him the first one on the left, and so on, right and left alternately, can bet any amount he pleases until the total amount bet equals the capital then in the bank. When this amount is reached it is useless to place further bets, as they may not be paid. For this reason Baccara is a very slow game when there is not much money in the bank. After all the players have made what bets they wish, outsiders may place bets on the result if they choose to do so.

Either the players or the gallery may bet on either side of the table, which is divided down the middle by a line dividing it into two parts, right and left; hence the name, Baccara a deux tableaux. A person wishing to bet on both sides at once places his money à cheval; that is, across the line. If one side wins and the other loses, a bet placed in this manner is a stand-off; if both sides lose, the bet is lost, and if both win the bet is won. A common form of dishonesty at Baccara, and one for which a distinguished Englishman was recently tried, is to place a stake very close to the line, and if it is seen that the side on which it is placed has probably lost, to push the stake onto the line, so that it may be saved if the other side wins. The Englishman in question worked this little game on the Prince of Wales for some time before he was detected.

When the banker loses, he pays the players in their order, right and left alternately, beginning with those who hold cards, until his capital is exhausted. Any further bets are disregarded. If any player bets on the opposite side of the table to that on which he is seated, his bet is not paid until all five of the players on that side have been settled with, because such a bet is regarded as that of an outsider, not belonging to that side of the table. If the player actually holding cards is not the one nearest the banker, he is still the first one to be paid, and then those beyond him in order. For instance: The third player holds cards; after him the fourth and fifth are paid, and then the first and second, each alternately with a player on the other side of the table.

Banco. Each player in turn, beginning with the one to whom cards will be dealt first, has the right to go banco; that is, to challenge the banker to play for his entire capital at a single coup. Such a proposition takes precedence of all others. If the bank loses such a coup, it must be put up to the highest bidder again, or offered to the next player on the list. If it wins, the same player, or any other player, may make a similar offer for the next coup, which will now be for double the first amount, of course; but no player is allowed to offer banco more than twice in succession.

Dealing. The cards cut, the banker takes a convenient number of them in his hand, or better, spreads them face downward on the table, and slips off the top card, giving it to the player next him on the right, face down. The next card he gives to the player on his left, and the next to himself. He gives another card to the right, to the left, and to himself, and then the players take them up and examine them. Ten cards must remain in the stock for the last deal.

Irregularities. After the first card is dealt no bets can be made or changed. The cards must be so held that they shall be at all times in full view of the players. Any card found faced in the pack is thrown in the waste basket. Any card once separated from the pack must be taken. If neither of the players want it, the dealer must take it himself. If the cards are dealt irregularly the error may be rectified if they have not been looked at; but any player may amend or withdraw his bet before the cards are seen. If the error is not detected in time, the player who holds cards may play the coup or not as he pleases, and all bets on his side of the table are bound by his decision. If a player holds one card too many, he may refuse the coup, or retain whichever two of the three cards he pleases, throwing the third into the waste basket, not showing it. If the banker has too many cards, the players may amend their bets, and the banker’s cards are then exposed, and the one taken from him which will leave him with the smallest point, the drawn card being thrown in the waste basket. If the banker gives himself two cards while either player has been given one only, the player must be given another card, and the banker must also take another. If the players have not amended their stake before the error was corrected, the first two cards dealt to the banker are thrown in the waste basket, and the third is his point for that deal. If the banker gives the second card to either player before dealing the first to himself, he must give the second to the other player also, and then take his own. This single card must then be thrown in the waste basket, but the banker may play out the hand as if he had two cards which counted 10 or 20; that is, baccara.

Showing. If any of the three persons holding cards finds he has a point of 8 or 9, it must be shown at once, and the two other hands are then exposed. If the banker has 8 or 9, and neither of the others has so many, the bank wins everything on the table. If either player has more than the banker, all the bets on that side of the table must be paid. If either player has as many as the banker, all the bets on that side of the table are a stand-off. If either player has less than the banker, all the bets on that side of the table are lost. If a player wrongly announces 8 or 9, he cannot draw cards unless his point was 10 or 20.

Drawing. If none of the three can show 8 or 9, the banker must offer a card to the player on his right. The card must be slipped off the pack and offered face down. If the player on the right refuses, it is offered to the player on the left, and if he also refuses, the banker must take it himself. If the player on the right takes it, the player on the left may ask for a card also; but whether he does so or not, the banker is not obliged to draw unless he chooses, after the first card offered has been taken by either player. When the card is taken it is turned face up, and left on the table in front of the person to whom it belongs. Only one card may be drawn by any player, and all the hands are then exposed. Ties are a stand-off. The banker pays all bets on the side that is nearer 9 than himself, and wins all on the side which is not so near 9 as himself. The players on the opposite sides of the table have nothing to do with each other; each wins or loses with the banker alone.

It should be observed that if a player had 4 originally, and draws a 9, his point is not 13, but 3, because all 10’s count for nothing. There is no such thing as being créve, as at Vingt-et-un.

Irregularities. If the banker gives two cards, face up, to the player on his right, the player may retain which he pleases, throwing the other into the waste basket. If two cards are given to the player on the left, he may select which he pleases, and the banker must take the other.

Order of Playing. The coup finished, and all bets paid, the cards which have been used are all thrown into the waste basket, and the stakes are placed for the next coup. The banker deals again, from the top of the stock, without any further shuffling or cutting of the cards. If the player on the right won the first coup, the banker deals to him again; but if he lost, the banker deals to the next player beyond him; that is, the second from the banker, on his right. The same with the player on the left. If the player on the right or left wins the second coup, the cards are dealt to him again for the third coup; if he loses they are dealt to the next player beyond him, and so on, until all five players have held cards and have lost a coup, after which the banker deals to the one nearest him again.

It will thus be seen that there are in each coup only two active players, and that all stakes made upon the game are made upon the result of their hands.

Suggestions for Playing. In justice to those backing him, the player is supposed to draw or not to draw, according to the laws of probabilities, which are exactly the same as in Vingt-et-un. If he has four points, which would be 5 below 9, he should draw; just as he would if he had 16 at Vingt-et-un, which would be 5 below 21. If he has 5 or more, he should stand; but if he has 5 exactly it is a matter of judgment, drawing a card being sometimes good play, especially if it is likely to lead the banker to overdraw himself. In some clubs there is a law that a player must draw if his point is less than 5, and must stand if it is more than 5, or he must pay a fine.

As no one is backing the banker, he is at liberty to play as badly as he pleases, and he is really the only one that has an opportunity to exercise any judgment in the matter of drawing. If a player refuses a card, the banker may be able to judge whether or not he has 6 or 7 by his habit of drawing or not drawing at 5. If he is known to be a player who draws at 5, it is useless for the banker to stand at 5, unless he thinks he can beat the player on the other side of the table, and there is more money on that side. If the player demanding a card has been given a 10, the banker should stand, even at 3 or 4. If he has been given an ace, the banker should stand at 4; if a 2 or 3, the banker should stand at 5; if the player is given a 4, the banker should draw, even if he has 5. If a player has drawn a 5, 6 or 7, the banker should draw, even if he has 5 or 6. If the player draws an 8 or 9, the banker should stand at 4 or 5, sometimes even with 3.

It must be remembered that the banker should have a sharp eye to the relative amounts staked on each side of the table, which will often decide which player he should try to beat. For example: The banker has 5, and the player on his right has drawn a 10, the one on his left a 7. The banker has an excellent chance to win all the bets on the right, and should have a certainty of standing off with them, and unless those on the left very much exceeded them, the banker would be very foolish to risk losing everything by drawing to 5, simply to beat the player on his left.

BACCARA CHEMIN DE FER. In this variation, each player in turn on the left becomes the banker, taking the deal as soon as the first banker loses a coup. The banker gives cards only to the player on his right, and to himself. If this player will not go banco, each of the others in order beyond him may do so. If no one goes banco, each player in turn to the right makes what bets he pleases, within the limit of the bank’s capital. If the banker wins the coup, he deals again, and so on until he loses, when the deal passes to the player on his left. The banker, after winning a coup, may pass the deal to the player on his right, if he chooses to do so, provided that player will put up an amount equal to that then in the bank. When this player loses a coup, the bank must go to the player to whom it would have gone in regular order; that is, the one on the left of the player who transferred his privilege.

Six packs of cards are generally used in Chemin de Fer, and the cards are placed in a wooden box, from which each dealer takes as many as he wants.

CHEATING. Baccara is honeycombed with trickery. Dishonest players, in collusion with the banker, have certain means of informing him of their point, so that he may win all the money staked upon that side of the table by the other players. This may be done in many ways. The player may ask the one sitting next him whether or not he should draw, which shows that he has 5. Or he may make a movement as if to expose his first two cards, and then correct himself. This shows the banker that the player has baccara, and is pretending that he thought he had 9. In addition to this system of communication, which Parisians call tiquer, marked cards, second dealing, and prepared stocks which can be palmed on the true cards, or substituted therefor, are all in common use. If Baccara is honestly played it is one of the fairest of all banking games, but the opportunities for cheating are so many and so easily availed of, and the money to be won and lost is so great, especially at Chemin de Fer, that few who know anything of cheating at cards can resist the temptation to practice it at Baccara.

The Laws of Baccara are very long and complicated. As no official code exists, and as each gambling club makes its own house rules, it is not necessary to give them here, the directions contained in the foregoing description being sufficient for any honest game.

Text Books. The following will be found useful:—