An intense baccarat game sweeps across a casino floor as players open, clean, and stack decks of cards for use. A fresh shoe is loaded for the game of baccarat to begin.
Traditional baccarat shoes contain six decks of cards that are shuffled together and then reshuffled before being introduced into a game with either a manual or automated shuffling machine. Seven to 14 seats for players surround a dealer area in which to wager on which hand will come closest to nine, dropping its first digit when applicable (e.g. a hand that contains 10 value cards e.g. 7+6 would become 3). Aces count as one point each. A player may choose Player, Banker or Tie bet.
North American customers may find baccarat an unfamiliar form of gambling. Unlike blackjack where customers play against dealers directly, in baccarat only two hands of cards are dealt: Banker and Player hands. Banker hands offer lower house edges but typically pay out less money; Tie bets however offer greater returns than either Banker or Player hands.
Baccarat is an exciting high-stakes game, and even higher stakes for casinos that host it. Many notable figures in business have dropped huge sums at baccarat tables – Australian media mogul Kerry Packer won $22 million at Caesars Palace alone; billionaire Sheldon Adelson lost $9 million while visiting Bellagio.
As the baccarat market changes, some of the old rules of the game must also change for casinos to attract Asian customers and maximize revenue potential. Of particular note is reducing player reinvestment costs: this occurs when one player makes both Player and Banker bets simultaneously within a game – effectively double betting both sides of the shoe at once, which results in offsetting betting with negative mathematical changes that erode casino profit margins.
Casinos must also consider adapting their table layouts to accommodate Asian culture’s number preferences, for example 4 and 14 are often seen as unlucky numbers in certain Asian cultures. By changing the layout of their baccarat table to eliminate these numbers, casinos can decrease free hand costs and boost revenue. Another concern facing casinos lies with managing Asian superstitions that may interfere with gameplay. Asian customers, for instance, tend to prefer receiving change for larger-denomination casino chips by receiving four $25 chips instead of eight $100 chips as this simple change can significantly decrease non-revenue decisions recorded by table game management systems and improve casino profitability.
