Baccarat Glossary for New Players

Learning how to play baccarat will introduce new players to terms like chemin de fer, banco, coup, croupier, le grande, and other strange sounding words to those who are not familiar to them. What we have below is a list of these and other terms you will read about the game or hear when playing at a baccarat table.

Many of the terms you will encounter in baccarat lingo are Italian, French, and Spanish. Like other casino table games, baccarat will also use the regular lingo you hear on the floor. The same definitions for such common terms will also apply to baccarat. The majority of the terms you'll find below are the non-English ones.

Action is a baccarat term that refers to the entire amount of wagers a player makes. This amount is set for a player's whole session.

Banco is a Spanish term used in baccarat. This refers to the player (or at times the dealer) who deals cards from the shoe. This player also plays hands during a baccarat session. There are versions of baccarat where this player also finances the amount for the action while other game variants will have the casino does the financing.

Baccara is an Italian term, which is also another name for Baccarat. Banque or Baccarat Banque is a term that refers to a variant of the game. This is the variant of the game that is popular in North America. Chemin de Fer is a baccarat term that refers to a version of the game. This term is French so obviously this is the French version of the game.

Coup is also a French term that you'll hear in baccarat games. When you hear this you'll know that a round of play in the game is referred to. Now, Croupier is also another French term but refers to a totally different thing in the game. Croupier is French for the term dealer. This obviously is the casino employee who controls the flow of the game. In mini baccarat, the dealer does all the work like dealing cards, controlling game flow, collecting losses, and paying the winners.

Le Grande is another French term that refers to a hand that totals a perfect nine. This hand is also called a natural, pretty much like blackjack. On the other hand, the term palette refers to the tool used on the baccarat table to move cards around.

Punto is both a Spanish and Italian term, which is also known as point. This term refers to the player hand in baccarat. You'll get to know these terms as you keep playing baccarat. Enjoy learning the lingo and the low house edge bets in the game.