Punto Banco is a version of baccarat, a classic casino game of chance, that is widely available at Mexican mobile casinos. It is relatively easy to learn and play. The game is played on a casino table covered with a green cloth which has markings denoting the six possible bets for the players. Punto Banco is a card game which is played between two hands, the "player" and the "banker". Each hand is managed by the dealer and the dealer will draw cards for both the banker and the player based on the set tableau.
The goal of Punto Banco is to guess which hand – the player or the bank – will end up with a higher point total. When the cards are dealt, the point totals are added together and the hand with the highest value is the winner. The point totals are calculated by adding the value of the cards together, minus the 10’s digit, if any.
The following are the possible bets that can be placed in Punto Banco:
- Player: Bet on the player’s hand to win
- Banker: Bet on the banker’s hand to win
- Tie: Bet on the tie between the player and banker
- Player/Banker Pair: Bet on a pair of the same card with the same value being dealt
- Banker/Player: Bet on a combination of the player and banker’s hands
- Big/Small: Bet on the total points being over or under 9