Baccarat is a casino card game. It is believed to have been introduced into France from Italy during the reign of Charles VIII of France (ruled 1483-1498), and it is similar to Faro and to Basset. There are three accepted variants of the game: baccarat chemin de fer (railway), baccarat banque (or à deux tableaux), and punto banco (or North American baccarat). Punto banco is strictly a game of chance, with no skill or strategy involved; each player’s moves are forced by the cards the player is dealt. In baccarat chemin de fer and baccarat banque, by contrast, both players can make choices, which allows skill to play a large part.

Baccarat (pronounced bak?ra?) is a simple game with only three possible results - ‘Player’, ‘Banker’ and ‘Tie’. The term ‘Player’ does not refer to the customer and the term ‘Banker’ does not refer to the house. They are just options on which the customer can bet.

Baccarat in Europe
The Baccarat game spread to France in the late 15th century, changing its name to “Baccarat en Banque” and later on to “Chemin de Fer” (French for ‘railway’). In the latter game, the casino does not act as the banker. The players take turns in acting as banker and place bets among themselves. The game “Chemin de Fer” was played by the aristocracy in France and became very fashionable. Once it reached England, the game also became very popular, and the updated English version became known as “European Baccarat”.
Baccarat has also been known to be a game for which high stakes are played. In 1990, Akio Kashiwagi, known as the “Warrior”, played Baccarat at the Trump Plaza casino in Atlantic City. The Warrior made his place in casino history by winning over $6 million, while betting $200,000 a hand at Baccarat. He made the mistake of returning a few months later to try his hand once again at Baccarat. The second time, after a week of playing, he left after losing almost 10 million Dollar.

The game of Baccarat has a simple objective. A player may bet on their choice of two hands on the table: either that of the player or the banker. The winning hand is the one which is closer to nine. There are limits and high stakes for playing the classic casino Baccarat. Versions of the same game may also be enjoyed with lower stakes in Mini Baccarat and online Baccarat. Mini Baccarat has the same rules as American Baccarat, although the betting limits are not as high. In the classic game of Baccarat, the players themselves pass the role of playing ‘banker’ with each game. In Mini Baccarat, the dealer always remains the Banker. Source : wikipedia.org