Baccarat is one of the most popular casino games in the world. Often played in the big money sections of European and American casinos, it is also available to play online.

The game involves comparing two hands, the Player hand and the Banker hand. The goal of the game is to guess whether the Player hand or the Banker hand will be closer to nine points when all the pips (the dots on a card that are clubs, diamonds, hearts and spades) are added up.

Typically, a game of bacarrat is played using a number of standard 52-card decks. The cards are dealt in a series of boxes and the digits in the last box are multiplied to give each hand a total.

When both the Player and Banker have a total of eight or nine, a third card is drawn. This is called a natural win and the game is over.

Players can place their bets on the Player or the Banker, or can make a tie bet. The Banker bet is the best bet for the player, as it pays a higher payoff and the house edge on this bet is lower than on the player bets.

A 5% commission is paid on winning Banker bets, and this is tracked by the dealer in his commission box and collected for each win.

The game of bacarrat originated in the mid-19th century in France and has become increasingly popular in casinos around the world. It is now a highly profitable casino game, with a house edge of less than 1 percent.