Baccarat

Abstract

Baccarat is a 20th-century Argentinian descendant of the elegant card games chemin de fer (Example 5.1.4 on p. 167) and baccara en banque, which are of French origin and date back to the 19th century. Unlike its ancestors, baccarat offers no discretionary strategy decisions. This makes the game easier to analyze but less interesting mathematically than chemin de fer or baccara en banque. In Section 19.1 we evaluate the probabilities and house advantages associated with the player, banker, and tie wagers. In Section 19.2 we explore the potential for card counting at baccarat.