Chemin de Fer Baccarat Game Has Some Special Rules to Play

It is a high time to talk about the original baccarat variant which was an ancestor of all today's baccarat variations and this game is Chemin de Fer baccarat!

Having moved from Italy to France in the 15^th century, Chemin de Fer baccarat quickly became the favorite card game of the whole aristocratic world. Even today this game, when played in French casinos, demands a special dress code from players and is played in a special separate casino room behind the velvet curtains. Actually, Chemin de Fer baccarat is possible to find preferably in French casinos today because of its many different variants which were widespread all over the world.

Object and Card Values

The object of Chemin de Fer is the same with other baccarat variations: to get 9 points (maximum which can be received in baccarat) and make your bet win! The card values are counted in such a way that you can get maximum 9 points:

• An Ace costs 1 point
• King, Queen, Jack and 10's cost 0 points
• 2-9's cost the points of their value

Chemin de Fer is played with 6 decks of cards and even if a player gets more than 9 points out of his initial hand, they will be counted in such a way their final sum will not exceed 9. For example:

You have 9's and 8's as the initial hand. 9 + 8 = 17. What does Chemin de Fer baccarat do? 17 = 1 + 7 = 8. So, your final number of points will be 8. Not bad indeed.

Table

Chemin de Fer is played at the big round table of maximum 14 players and 3 dealers: 1 dealer is the main (he leads the game) one and 2 other dealers help to control bets of all players.

All players sit randomly at the table. The role of a banker can be played both by a dealer and a player: a dealer is the first banker and after that the player who sits at dealer's right hand becomes a banker. In such a way, players can be a banker one by one; if a player does not want to be a banker, he can miss his turn.

Bets

All bets at Chemin de Fer are made before the cards are dealt: a banker makes his bet first and each player should make the bet which will exceed a banker's one or be the same at least. If a player can not face a banker's bet, he does not take part in betting this time.

There are only three variants which you can choose for betting: Player, Banker, Tie. Two cards are dealt to every player and a banker, and the hand of the player who had made the highest bet becomes the main one for Player bet.

Commission

If you bet on Banker, remember that a house takes 5% commission in a case of your winning

If you bet on Player, your winning will be paid as 1:1

The worst bet is on Tie because there is 14,4% commission to a house in a case of winning

Rules

Some rules of Chemin de Fer exist which determine the behavior of players and bankers during a game; after two initial cards have been dealt and opened, the following variations are possible:

A player or a banker has 8 or 9 points:

• a banker - wins
• a player - wins

A player or a banker has 6 or 7 points:

• a banker - stands
• a player - chooses whether to take a third card or not

A player or a banker has 5 points:

• a player - takes a third card
• a banker - stands

A player or a banker has 0-4 points

• a player - takes a third card
• a banker - takes a third card

Chemin de Fer mean "rail road" in English; such a name is believed to appear because all players could play the role of a banker clockwise one by one like a train goes, or because an iron box wad used for placing the cards.