Baccarat is that exciting card game you see in movies where high-rollers play at opulent casinos. It has a mystique and evokes images of elegant people in tuxedos and women in gowns, laying down chips as the dealer distributes cards. While baccarat is primarily a game of chance, there are some strategies that can help you improve your chances of winning.

Players sit around a baccarat table and place their bets in a marked area called the betting circle. Players don’t touch the cards and should not move their bets after they place them. Players can choose to make player, banker, or tie bets.

The game is played with six or eight decks of cards. Each card has a value and the ace is worth one point. A player’s or banker’s total score closest to nine wins the round. The player and the banker are dealt two cards each. If either the player or the banker have a total score of 8 or 9 on the first two cards, this is called a natural win and all bets are paid out.

There are also several side bets available in baccarat, depending on the platform or establishment. You can wager that the player or the banker will receive a pair on the deal, which pays 11:1 odds. You can also bet on a third-card draw, which pays out 9:1 odds. You can also make a bet that the banker will beat the player, which pays out 9:5 odds.