Baccarat is a casino game that has long been associated with sophistication and luxury. In fact, it was featured in the 2013 film The Great Gatsby as one of the games played at the parties hosted by the character Jay Gatsby. But despite its reputation for being difficult to master, Baccarat is actually one of the simplest casino games to play.

The game is a table game where players place bets on either the Player Hand, Banker Hand or Tie. The objective is to correctly predict which hand will come closest to nine. The game has a number of rules, but the most important ones are that tens and face cards have zero value and aces count as one. The total of the cards is then summed and the hand that is closest to nine wins.

Each baccarat coup (round) begins with the dealer dealing two cards to the Player box and Banker box. Then the values of the cards are compared and if your bet matches the box with the highest ranked combination, you win that round. Unlike other table games, there is no third card dealt and the outcome of each round is determined by only the second digit of the total value of the cards.

Historically, the game was more common in Asia than Europe, but it became a craze in Western casinos after it was introduced by Felix Falguiere to King Charles VIII of France. The game quickly gained popularity among the wealthy and aristocratic class and remained popular for centuries.

Today, baccarat is a popular table game in many casinos and is also available for play at online casinos. There are different versions of the game, but they all have similar rules and payouts. However, some variations of the game use different numbers of decks, which can impact the odds of winning and losing. In addition, some versions of the game have a fixed minimum bet and maximum bet.

In the modern version of the game, there is a single dealer and bets are placed against the house. The banker hand wins in around 45.8% of rounds and ties occur in 9.6% of the time. The game has a house edge of 1.2 percent on the banker and player bets and a 14 percent edge on the tie bet.

Baccarat is one of the most popular table games in the world, especially in Asia and Latin America. It is a simple game to learn and offers players the chance to win big prizes. To win big, players must understand the rules of the game and how to bet correctly. The best way to do this is by studying the history of baccarat and the basic strategy behind it. Those who wish to bet big on the game should learn the martingale betting system, which is a simple but effective way to increase your chances of winning. Despite its popularity, the game is not suitable for all players and it is important to understand your limits and gamble responsibly.