BACCARAT, or BACCARA, a game played with the ordinary playing cards. Any number of players may participate, and as many packs of cards may be used as necessary, the number being increased to correspond with the number of play ers. One member of the party is se lected to act as banker. He deals out the cards from a box, after they have been shuffled. The face cards each count 10, and the others according to the num bers of their spots. After the bets have been made, the banker deals two cards to each of the players, including himself, but the other players must receive their cards before the banker is served. The aim of the players is to make the num bers 9, 19, 29, or as nearly those as pos sible, as 8, 18, and 28. Any player is at liberty either to "stand" or to be "con tent" with the two cards at first dealt, or to call for more, at the risk of exceed ing 29, when his stake is forfeited to the dealer. If, after the first distribution of two cards to each, any player has a "nat ural"—i e., a sum making 9, or next in
value, 19—he declares it wins, and the banker pays all who hold superior hands to his own, and claims from those hold ing inferior hands. The players stake their money separately, there being, in fact, as many separate games in progress as there are players, and the spectators may wager their money on any one of them, all of which must be accepted by the banker. Prior to the banker making a start, he states the amount of the bank. Anyone sitting down at the table has the right to call the whole of the bank, selecting the left or the right on which to pick up the cards. Previous to the banker dealing the cards, it is the duty of two croupiers, one on the right and the other on the left, to count up the stakes deposited on either side, and then make up the bank. Thus the banker knows, to the smallest coin, the exact amount of his liabilities.