Originally originating in Europe and continuing to be a staple of gaming in casinos around the world, Baccarat is a card game that is particularly popular among players in New Zealand. While American Baccarat is the version most commonly found around the world, New Zealand is one of the few places to offer the European version of the game, Punto Banco, and many players have a preference for that particular format.
At the core, the game of Baccarat still follows the same basic rules, with players still using hands of two or three cards at once and making wagers of who will be victorious in each hand. As the game begins, the player and the banker are each dealt two cards, with the totals of each hand combined and the player closest to the total of 9 winning the round.
In Baccarat, the goal is to wager on the hand that is closest to the possible total of 9 - or in some cases, to bet that the game will end in a tie. In either case, the Baccarat table is always the liveliest area of the casino, with high stakes and adrenaline-fueled bets being made by players hoping to cash in on their luck.