The role of the bank can be played differently and this the main difference between different Baccarat variations. If you play Baccarat Chemin de Fer you will notice that the role of the bank is played by different players. The banker position passes clockwise from player to player every time the banker loses. The house, however, provides the banker with funds throughout the game. The role of the banker can be passed to the next player. The objective of the game always remainds the same for all Baccarat games. The player has to form a hand as close to 9 as possible. In Chemin de Fer, the banker deals four cards for each of the players and for himself; each participant now turns over the cards and adds the numbers on each together. A player having a total lower than five will usually draw another card, while a player with a hand greater than 5 will usually stand. The total of the hands is then compared and the player with the best hand (closest to 9) wins.

The rules of Baccarat have been carefully constructed to produce a small, but measurable profit for the house for both "player" and Banker stakes, and a steep jump in advantage for Tie stakes. Complex calculations are applied to determine that the banker will win 50.68% of all non-tie games and the gambler 49.32%. Using 100 credits worth of bets against these percentages signifies that one might hope to lose 50.68 and win 49.32. The dissimilarity between the two is 1.36, hence a 1.36 casino advantage against the "player" bet.
Thus why then, a person may ask, does the Banker stake offers no real casino benefit if it wins more than half of the time at 50.68% ? Indeed, gambling houses are absolutely careful to that. In case if they allowed the game to be played giving up an advantage to gamblers, they would become bankrupt. Gambling houses have taken that odds discrepancy into account, and made income back into their favor by means of a 5% commission on winning Banker stakes. The "banker" bet advantages might be counted as follows: let's say you are staking 100 credits. Taking into account the 5% percentage on winning Banker bets, one will win 0.95 for every one credit wagered. Expecting to win 50.68% of the time, multiply 0.95 by 50.68 and you get 48.15. You yet can expect to lose 49.32, and the difference is 1.17, resulting in a 1.17% casino profit. Draw wagers happen nearly 9.55% of the time, meaning the real odds of a tie bet are 9.47 to 1. Dividing 9.55 into 100 gives 10.47 and taking into account the fact that you will receive your initial bet back, the suitable odds are 9.47 to 1. So, winning a draw bet must have you winding up with 10.47 credits, however instead you wind up with 9. Dividing the difference, 1.47, into 10.47 gives the house a 14.4% profit. A person might be tempted by means of the 8 to 1 payout, but the odds on this wager are disadvantageous compared to the Banker and Player despite the 5% obligatory percentage attached to winning the Banker stake, that still offers the most profitable odds in the game of baccarat, and over time one might expect to lose less by applying this option.