Punto Banco, long-associated with being an ‘upper-class’ or aristocratic game is today one of the most popular casino games. Extremely simple to play, it can be quite exciting once you get over the aura surrounding it and you know a little about the odds and rules involved.

Unlike a lot of other casino games, Punto Banco doesn’t require great skill, strategy or mind work. All it requires a player to do is decide which side he’s placing his bets on – on the ‘Punto’ or player, the bank or ‘Banco’, or in the rare case, on the ‘Stand-off’ or tie. That’s it, the rest is up to the dealer and your fate depends on the cards dealt!

You’ll find that most casinos have a separate area for a Punto Banco table that can have about 14 or 16 players. The table can be intimidating, considering the elite crowd surrounding it, but the game is quite simple and fun once you get down to it. The players place themselves around the casino table. One player is the dealer, or usually the casino is the dealer. Basically, whoever the ‘Shoe’ lies with becomes the dealer. The dealer then deals the cards from a shoe containing eight decks of cards. If you’re a player, all you need to do is place your money/chips on the Banco and Punto boxes set on the casino table.

Once all the players have placed their chips, the player who is the Banco and the Punto are dealt two cards each by the dealer. Now, the Punto first looks at his cards and hands them over to the dealer who places it on the Punto part of the casino table. The Banco does the same. The player who gets the highest count of 8 or 9 wins. In case neither of the players gets 8 or 9 (or ‘natural’), a decision to deal a third card can be made. Often, the third card is what makes the game so exciting. As a player, you don’t really need to know the third-card rules – but it’s quite interesting to know.


If the players cards total anywhere from 0 to 5, a decision to draw a third card is taken, if a banker’s is 0 to 3, he will draw a third card. If the formers total is 6, 7, 8 or 9, no third card is drawn. A third card will also be drawn if: the banker gets a four and player gets 2 to 7; banker gets 5 and player gets 4 to 7; banker gets 6 and player totals 6 to 7 (but only if he got this in 3 cards). If 7, no third will be drawn, similarly for 8 and 9, both banker and player stand. This is how a winner is determined and payouts to all players are made.

In terms of a winning strategy, there really isn’t one for Punto Banco! But it’s useful to be aware that a Banco win usually attract a commission from the casino, and so do the ‘tie’ wins, which are substantial. So place you’re chips where your heart is and sit back to see whether the winning hand comes your way!