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Chemin de Fer

An older variant of baccarat in which players bet against each other and the role of banker passes around the table — unlike Punto Banco, it involves decisions.

Also: chemin de fer baccarat · baccarat chemin de fer · raudtee-bakaraa

Definition

Chemin de Fer (French for "railway") is the **more original form** of baccarat, played mainly in France and a few European casinos. It is rare online — [Punto Banco](/glossary/punto-banco) has almost entirely displaced it.

## What is different

**The banker is a player, not the casino.** The role of banker passes around the table, and the player acting as banker risks their own money. The casino takes a cut of the bank rather than accepting bets.

**There are decisions.** Unlike Punto Banco, the player may decide whether to draw a third card. That means Chemin de Fer has better and worse play — and therefore an actual strategy.

**The pace is slower.** The game requires participation from players and is consequently far slower than automated Punto Banco.

## Can it be played online

Practically not. Live casino line-ups offer almost exclusively Punto Banco or its speed variants, because those are standardisable and fast. If a casino offers something called "Baccarat", it is almost certainly Punto Banco.

The term is still worth knowing, because sources describing the rules of baccarat — especially older and French ones — often refer to the Chemin de Fer rule set, which does not apply to the game you play online.

Guide

Chemin de Fer is why information found about the rules of baccarat is so often wrong. If you search for
"baccarat rules" and land on an older or French source, it probably describes Chemin de Fer, where the
player decides on the third card themselves. In the game you actually play at an online casino, a table
decides that, and your only decision is which bet to place.

The difference is not academic. If you read a strategy that assumes a third-card decision and try to
apply it in Punto Banco, the strategy simply cannot be applied — the button does not exist.
Understanding this heads off a whole set of misunderstandings.

The practical conclusion: always check which variant a source is describing. At an online casino the
answer is almost always Punto Banco, and its strategy is one sentence long — bet on the banker.