Baccarat is one of the most popular casino games. It is easy to learn, has a low house edge and is featured in James Bond movies. It is played in high-limit rooms at most Las Vegas casinos. However, while the game has a simple exterior, it can be quite complicated inside the shoe and it’s a very fast-paced game. The goal of baccarat is to wager on which hand will come closest to a total of 9. The player’s and banker hands are dealt from a nine-card deck. Picture cards and tens are worth zero points, while the rest of the cards are worth their face value. A winning player hand pays out a 1:1 payout, while a winning Banker bet wins you twice your stake. However, the casino takes a 5% commission on winning bets on the Banker’s hand. Unlike many other table games, baccarat is a pure game of chance. But if you want to increase your chances of winning, you must develop a good strategy. A good way to do that is by tracking possible patterns in the baccarat shoe and making logical bets based on these observations. According to Bill Zender, a former Nevada Gaming Control Board agent, casino dealer and executive, this is the best way to manage a baccarat game. In the past, Baccarat was mostly played in Asian casinos, but it has grown to be a worldwide favorite. It’s also a huge moneymaker for casinos in Macau, which has dethroned Las Vegas as the world’s largest gambling destination, and in Singapore, where it accounts for 18 percent of all casino win. Baccarat’s popularity has even generated variations on the game and additional ways to play it, including side bets and Mini baccarat. The biggest drawback to playing baccarat is that you can’t control the outcome of a round. It’s like tossing a coin — in the end, heads or tails will come up more often than not. But this is a game that’s worth playing if you can deal with the small house advantage. The most common baccarat wagers are the Player and Banker bets. The Player bet has a lower house edge than the Banker bet because the player doesn’t have to draw cards. But the player’s hand may bust before the dealer plays out his cards, which reduces the chance of a Banker win. In the long run, this difference adds up.