Live Baccarat
Baccarat is one of the most exciting, player-friendly casino table games out there, requiring no expertise on the player’s part and offering a high-speed, electrifying experience suited to today’s modern player. The objective is very straightforward; players are asked to bet on one of two hands known as the player (punto) and banker (banco). Two to three cards, each carrying a specific point value, are dealt for each hand and the hand accumulating a point value closest to 9 (the highest possible) wins the coup (or round). Players that would have bet on the winning hand take the spoils on a 1:1 pay-out ratio. Players might also bet on a tie (known as a stand-off), which in turn pays out on an 8:1 or 9:1 ratio, depending on the casino.
Playing Live Online
Naturally, casino games like Baccarat are traditionally played in your typical brick and mortar-type casinos, many of which require a particular dress code, not to mention a long drive to get to. Well, with live Baccarat or Punto Banco online, enthusiasts get the full live experience that traditional casinos offer their patrons, with live action through real time video feeds against real people and croupiers, all from the comfort of one’s own laptop or desktop computer, wherever he or she may be.
Playing Live Baccarat Punto Banco online provides players with a feeling of playing in a traditional casino. It provides for more peace of mind, facilitates trust and gives players more of a ‘real’ feel of the game than any online Baccarat version for which results are established via a Random Number Generator (RNG). So if you’re a typical on-the-go individual with little time to spare, looking for a fast-paced, easy-to-play casino game with favourable odds, the live, online version of the James Bond classic is definitely the game for you.
Where can one play Live Baccarat online?
There are scores of casinos that offer live Baccarat Punto Banco online, with many even offering free live trials for first time users and newbies to the game. Some also offer tutorials, step by step instructions and/or rules to the game. One casino we recommend is Portomaso Live Casino.
Portomaso Live Casino offers an excellent version of live Punto Banco, with crystal clear live streams, decent graphics, an uncluttered interface and a proper feeling of immersion for the online user, with a full view of the table and croupier. A neat voice prompt also instructs players as to when to place bets and when to stop betting at the beginning of each coup, which may come in handy for you multitaskers out there.
As opposed to many other live casinos online, which boast croupiers and dealers in bikinis and broadcast from a studio, the croupiers at Portomaso Live Casino are smartly and appropriately dressed, which is understandable when considering that the live stream comes from their real casino, which in turn all adds to the player’s ‘reality’ experience. Players even have an option to tip the dealers, which we think is a neat feature, testament to the site’s attention to detail. Portomaso Live Casino also offers players the option to play in full screen mode, which is not something offered by all others and tends to prove helpful over an extended time period.
Those of you new to the game needn’t worry; Portomaso Live Casino offers help to newcomers through a detailed in-game guide explaining everything a player would need to know to familiarise him/herself with playing Portomaso Punto Banco, from rules, to card values, to the placing and removing of bets, and even a general understanding of the game in certain detail.
Like most casinos offering Punto Banco, winning bets on the player (Punto) hand are paid out at 1:1, while winning bets on the banker (Banco) hand are paid out at 19:20, which is an even 1:1 taxed at a 5% rate that goes towards the house. Tie bets are paid out at 8:1. At Portomaso Live Casino, players may place multiple bets in a single coup, meaning that one may simultaneously bet on Punto, Banco and/or a tie between the two.

Do I need to register with Portomaso Casino?
One must register him/herself to play at Portomaso Live Casino, but registration is extremely quick, non-intrusive and simple, requiring only general information and no credit card details. Once a user is registered, he/she may log in and experience the live action without having deposited a single cent.
All live tables at Portomaso Live Casino, including Punto Banco, are open daily from 10am to 5am CET and till 6am on weekends. Portomaso Live Casino is operated by Glimmer Ltd, under license from the highly acclaimed Malta Gaming Authority (MGA), which provides for peace of mind by ensuring the provision of a safe and secure environment for online entertainment.
Punto Banco is a game of pure chance, requiring no particular skills or detailed knowledge of the rules on the player’s part to play. It’s fast paced and exciting, suited to pretty much anybody who is of legal age to play and best of all, provides more than reasonable odds for a casino table game. Playing Punto Banco live online is all that too, and to top it off, it eliminates the bother of having to dress up and physically attend a casino to enjoy the experience.
