CHEMIN DE FER

BANKER

Banker always Draws when having 0,1,2
Banker Never Draws when Having 7
Banker Faces 8, 9
If player takes No Card, banker Stands only on 6, 7

The Coup, or Play. The banker slides one card out of the shoe and deals it to the active player; then he deals one card for himself, a second card to the player, and finally a second card to himself. All four cards are dealt face down.
The First Turn of Play.

1. The active player now examines his cards. If they total a count of 8 or 9, he turns them face up on the table. If the count is 8, he calls “La petite!” If it is 9, he calls “La grande!” The croupier verifies the count. The banker must now turn his two cards face up.
2. If the active player’s count is higher than the banker’s, the croupier pays off all the winning poker play. If the active player’s count is lower than the banker’s, the banker wins, and the croupier collects all the bets for him.
3. If the active player holds a count of less than 8, he says “Pass,” and the banker now examines his own cards. If they total 8 or 9, he turns them face up, and the croupier collects all the bets for him. If the banker does not hold a count of 8 or 9,play reverts to the active player.
4. If the banker’s count is the same as the player’s count, it is a legal tie, or standoff, and neither banker nor player wins or loses.

The above four rules also apply with equal force to the player’s and banker’s second turn of play.
Active Player’s Second Turn of Play. If the active player holds a count of 1, 2, 3, 4, or 0, he must draw a card. If the active player has a count of 5, the draw is optional; he may elect either to get hit (draw) or to stay (not draw). This is the only discretionary play the active player has in Chemin de Fer. If the active player has a count of 6 or 7, he must stay.
Banker’s Second Turn of Play. If the banker holds a count of 0, 1, or 2, he must draw a card. If the active player stays and the banker holds a-count of 4 or 5, he must draw. If the active player stays and the banker holds a count of 6 or 7, he must stay.
Rules for the Banker When the Active Player Draws a Card. If the active player draws a card valued 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or 10, the banker must draw. If the active player draws an 8, the banker must stay. If the active player draws a 9, the banker’s play is optional; he may either draw or stay.
The preceding paragraph contains the basic additional rules for the banker’s play. As shown on the card describing the player’s and banker’s rules, the banker must playas follows when holding a count of 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7.
Banker Holds a Count of 3. If the banker holds a count of 3 and the active player, in his turn of play, has drawn a card valued at 1,2,3,4,5,6,7, or 10, then the banker must draw. If the active player has drawn an 8, the banker must stay. If the active player has drawn a 9, the banker’s play is optional; he may draw or stay.
Banker Holds a Count of 4. If the active player fails to draw a card, the banker (holding a count of 4) must draw. If the active player draws a card valued 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7, the banker must draw. If the active player draws a card valued 1, 8,9, or 10, the banker must stay.
Banker Holds a Count of 5. If the active player did not draw a card on his turn of play, the banker (holding a count of 5) must draw. If the active player draws a card valued 5,6, or 7, the banker must draw. If the active
player draws a card valued 1,2,3,8,9, or
10, the banker must stay. If the active player draws a 4, the banker’s play is optional; he may either stay or draw.
Banker Holds a Count of 6. If the active player fails to draw, the banker (holding a count of 6) must stay. If the active player draws a 6 or 7, the banker must draw. If the
active player draws a card valued 1,2,3,4,
5,8,9, or 10, the banker must stay.
Banker Holds a Count of 7. Regardless of the active player’s draw, the banker (holding a count of 7) must stay.

A typical Baccarat table layout for 12 players and three dealers.

Rules Governing the Bank. If the bank loses a coup, the deal passes. If the bank wins, the same player holds the bank and all the money in the bank is now at stake-the banker’s original bet and his winnings, less the 5 percent charge (in some casinos the 5 percent is not collected from the first win by the bank). The banker does not have the privilege of dragging down or reducing his bank. It is all or nothing. He may, of course, pass the bank at any time; but if he wants to retain the bank, he risks the entire bank, except when the bank exceeds the house limit or the bettors have not faded the full amount of the bank. In either case, the excess is put aside for the banker by the croupier.
When the banker passes, the croupier holds an informal auction of the bank, and gives it to the player who will put up a bank equal to the one that has just been passed. If the high bidder happened to be the player to the right of the banker, that player now gets the bank, in his regular turn. The bank can pass at any time up to the actual dealing of the cards.

Baccarat, Las Vegas Style

Baccarat, called Baccarat-Chemin de Fer in Nevada, is the most popular european and South American casino game. Several Latin American casinos have 40 or more Baccarat tables in action at one time. The reason Nevada casinos have replaced Shimmy with Baccarat is that Baccarat receives more earns more money.
The game’s equipment and playing rules for Baccarat-Chemin de Fer, Las Vegas
style, are similar to those of Chemin de Fer with the following exceptions:

1. The Baccarat-Chemin de Fer layout has two betting spaces at each end of the table, one marked Bank and the other marked Player. There are spaces for 12 online poker players at the table, numbered from 1 to 12. A bet placed on the space of the layout marked Bank indicates the player is wagering that the bank (often called the shooter) will win (pass) the bet. The Bank hand is the one that remains at or next to the shoe (dealing box). A bet the house and called a loss bet. The hand away from the shoe is the player’s hand. A count of 0 in Baccarat is known as baccarat, and a count of 9 is known as a natural. Several shills are used at a baccarat table to stimulate action. In European and Latin American casinos, checks or chips are used in the game, and they run from a low of 50 cents to a high of $100. The 50-cent chips are used to facilitate the croupiers’ taking of the 5 percent house charge from winning players who have bet on the bank. In the Nevada casinos, money rather than chips is used. The bank hand is paid off at even money, and a marker is charged to the customer to the tune of 5 percent or in the amount of 5 cents for each $1 won. This amount is collected ,from the players by the house at the end of each dealt shoe.
2. Because the house banks the game of Baccarat, one lone player can play, whereas at Chemin de Fer players may sit around for hours (as in Poker), waiting for enough players to arrive to get the game started.
3. Baccarat has the advantage that a player can bet two ways: on the bank, or on the player’s hand. Hence, players often switch their betting from the bank to the player’s hand or vice versa.
4. Baccarat has a bigger draw for the big- time player than Chemin de Fer : the player knows that if he gets lucky he can win big, because the casino’s entire bankroll is at stake. At Chemin de Fer, the amount a player can win is limited by how much the other players are willing to lose. The betting limits for Baccarat in Nevada casinos run from a low of $5 to $20, depending on the casino policy, to a maximum of $2,000. There are, of course, special betting limits for well-known high rollers.
5. The game is strictly mechanical. The player’s only optional play is that he may bet either the bank’s hand or the player’s. the croupier directs and coaches everyone at the table, following the posted rules of play.
6. The playing rules for Baccarat –Chemin de Fer are the same as for Chemin de Fer except that the option plays such as when the banker holding a count of 3 deals the player a 9, or when the banker holding a 5 deals the player a 4 are compulsory draws. The same holds true for the player when holding a count of 5. The abolishment of these optional rules at Baccarat makes the game mechanical; all a player can do is follow the rules. It does, however, eliminate those arguments that arise in Chemin de Fer caused by a player’s hitting or staying against the wishes of another player. The rules of Baccarat, like those of Chemin de Fer, are so many and so complicated that each player is given a card like the one that is shown below which describes the rules for players and banker:

PLAYER

BANKER

Percentages Against the player at Baccarat and Chemin de Fer. The rules governing Chemin de Fer and Baccarat seem unnecessarily complicated, but before we blend our voices in with the Shimmy and Baccarat addict’s immemorial compliant “Why don’t they simplify the laws?” let’s reexamine one of the inner secrets of all banking card games .
That secret may be stated as follows: Nothing in gambling is unreasonably complicated. If it’s complicated, there’s a reason. The reason for the strange and apparently unnatural statutes governing the play at Chemin de Fer at Baccarat is that in their complication lies the hidden percentage against the player at the game. Before giving a mathematical analysis of the game, I would like to point out to the reader that the source of the banker’s advantage is the fact that, as in Black Jack, the player must always play first. Although the Baccarat or Chemin de Fer player cannot bust his hand as in Black Jack, he does expose his possible card count to the banker by his possible card count to the banker by his decision of play. From there on, the rules of the game do the rest. They are devised so as to give the bank or dealer a percentage edge over the player. In short, the player’s hand is penalized by the rules that permit the banker-player to win 50 67/100 percent of the time, for a banker-player advantage of 1.34 percent. The thought then comes that the Bank space is the place to put your money. No. Because of the 5 percent com- mission charged against the bank when it wins, the banker player is faced with a 1,19 percent disadvantage.
If you still insist on casino gambling after having read this book, and you find yourself in a casino that harbors all the standard casino games including Chemin de Fer and Baccarat, and you would like to give yourself the best possible chance to win, then sit
yourself down at the Shimmy or Baccarat table. The low house percentage that the player or banker-player must buck in these games makes the 1.34 percent and the 1.19 percent bets the best available at any casino banking craps game, with the exception of two bets permitted at Bank Craps: a “front-line or come bet plus the front-line odds ” and a “back-line or don’t come bet plus the back- line odds.” However, I must remind the reader that any gambler must lose in the end if he repeatedly takes the worst percentages in any game, whether his disadvantage is a low of 1 percent or a high of 10 percent or more. I’ll add again that the higher the house percentage, the faster the player is sent to the cleaners