CHEMIN DE FER

Chemin de Fer and its cousins Baccarat, baccarat-Chemin de Fer, and Baccarat Banque, are the most popular private banking card games to be found in European and Latin American sporting clubs and gambling casinos. The present day forms of Baccarat and Chemin de Fer are the French variations of the Italian game of Baccara, which was first introduced into France about 1490 during the reign of Charles VIII. Outside of the United States, baccarat is known as Baccara.
The vocabulary of Chemin de Fer as used in the United States is partly French (banco, la grande, la petite), partly from Craps (next shooter, the bank’s faded). Unlike the Baccara games in French casinos, checks (chips) are seldom used in Shimmy games in the United States the green stuff (money) makes for a more interesting game. During the 1950’s Chemin de Fer, usually called Shimmy or Chemmy by American gamblers, was the type of Baccarat most often played in Nevada casinos but its popularity was to be short lived. In 1958 Baccarat (or Baccarat - Chemin de Fer, as it is known in the state of Nevada) made its debut at the Sands Hotel Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, to be followed later by other Las Vegas casinos. This soon resulted in the demise of Shimmy in Nevada casinos.
There is only a slight difference in the playing rules of Shimmy and Baccarat. In Baccarat, as it is played in Monte Carlo and other European casinos, the game is banked by the casino operators or by concessionaires. Players who bet the bank to win are charged 5 percent of their winnings on each bet. Players who bet the bank to lose do not pay a direct charge, but they do pay a hidden percentage.
chemin de Fer is played exactly the same as Baccarat, with the exception that the casino operators take no risk, since the players bet against each other. The house acts as a cutter, the same as the operator of a online poker game. For a standard cut (charge) of 5 percent taken out of the player banker’s winning coup bet), the house rents out the Shimmy equipment and supplies three
croupiers to operate the game. In return for the 5 percent charge, the croupiers run the game, manage the banker’s money, collect winning bets, and payout losing bets. Some operators charge each player a fixed hourly fee for their supervision of the game.
The Chemin de Fer equipment is bulky. The game requires a heavy kidney shaped table, its surface padded and covered with a fancy green-baize layout divided into numbered sections for nine or twelve players. Other requirements are six or eight decks of cards and a mahogany sabot or shoe (card - dealing box). A money box in the table holds is the casino’s gambling revenue. The croupier who handles the dealt cards sits in the concavity of the kidney-shaped table and uses a wooden palette to slide the cards, cash, or chips around to the players. ,I
The two croupiers who sit opposite the operator also have palettes to facilitate handling the bets. A lookout sits on a stand overlooking the Shimmy table. Although Shimmy and Baccarat are as fair percentage wise as any other banking game, many American gamblers didn’t realize this until recently, and rarely sat down to play the game.

Requirements

1. From two to as many players as there are player spaces available on the layout. Some tables have nine, others twelve. The banker plays against only one player at a time, but any or all the other players may bet on that one player’s hand against the bank, provided the bank possesses enough money to cover the wagers.
2. A regulation Chemin de Fer table with a discard box into which the player’s discards are dropped and the money box to receive the casino’s 5 percent charge.
3. A card-dealing box called a sabot or shoe.
4. Eight standard packs of 52 cards, four red-backed decks and four blue-backed decks, plus two advertising cards, which are used as indicators. (In some strategy casinos only six decks are used.)

5. Three Chemin de Fer palettes, long thin paddles which enable the seated croupiers ‘to transact business at the far reaches of the table.
Object of the Game. To win a coup by holding a combination of two or three cards totaling 9 or as close as possible to 9, or to a two-digit number ending in 9. When the total of the cards is a two-digit number, only the latter digit has any value. Examples: A count of 19 has a value of 9, a count of 23 has a value of 3, and so forth.
Value of the Cards. The ace is the lowest ranking card and has a point value of 1. Kings, queens, and jacks have a value of 10 each. All other cards have their numerical face value, tens have a point count of 10, nines 9, eights 8, etc. The suits have no comparative value.
The Shuffle and Cut. At the start of the game, the dealer-croupier spreads the eight packs of cards face up on the table and all the players and croupiers are permitted to take groups of cards and to shuffle them. On later deals, when the discard receiver is emptied onto the layout and some cards are face up and some face down, the croupiers and players turn the face-up cards down and shuffle them.
After the players have shuffled groups of cards, the croupier gathers all the cards and shuffles them together, usually shuffling about two pack at a time and ending up by weaving one group of cards into another. Finally, the croupier assembles all eight packs into one deck, and after several cuts, hands a player an indicator card, and says “Cut, please.” The player inserts the indicator card into the deck to show where he wants the cards cut. The croupier cuts the cards at this position, putting the indicator and all the cards above it on the bottom. He then inserts the second indicator card seven, eight, or ten cards from the bottom of the packet and places all the cards into the shoe face down. ‘The croupier next deals three cards loo from the shoe and drops them through a slot in the table into the discard receiver. This is called burning the top cards. (Some operators burn five or six cards instead of three.) The shoe is now ready to be dealt by the first banker- player.
Selecting the First Banker. The first player on the croupier’s right has the privilege of being first banker. If the first player declines the bank, the privilege passes to the player to his right, and so on, counterclockwise. (Or, the bank may be auctioned to the highest bidder.) The banker-dealer at Chemin de Fer continues to deal until he misses a pass (loses a bet). When the active player wins a bet, the croupier passes the shoe to the player on the dealer’s right. It always moves on to the right, counterclockwise. In mid game, as at the start, the bank may be declined.
When the first advertising card shows, the croupier announces “One more hand, please.” Upon completion of this last hand, reshuffle takes place which is governed by the rules for the original shuffle and cut.
Preparation for the Play. The croupier slides the shoe to the first designated banker, who places on the table an amount of money within the house betting limits. This amount may be from a low of $100 to a high of $5,000, $10,000, or more, all depending on the banker’s gambling spirit. A lucky bank may at times hold several hundred thousands dollars, and a player can bet all or any part of it, as he wishes.
The Betting. Before any cards are dealt, the players make their bets (called fading). If a player wants to fade the bank for its total worth, he calls “Banco.” A banco bet has precedence over any other. The player to the right of the dealer has the first privilege to banco. If he does not banco, the privilege passes to the next man on the right, and so on around the table. Then, any watcher or former nonplayer may call banco.
If no one bancos, then partial bets are accepted. The first man on the right places his bet, for whatever amount he chooses, on the table before him. Then the player on his right bets, and so on, around the able until the bank is partly or completely faded. If the bank is not completely faded, the amount which has not been faded is set aside for the banker.
Anyone who bancos, whatever his position around the table, has the right of banco suivi (following banco) if he loses. His right to call banco on the next deal has precedence over all others; if he fails to call banco, and more than one person calls banco, the play player nearest the dealer starting from the right has precedence, even though he may call banco after another player has done so. This right is known as banco prime. The player who bancos becomes the active player. If no one has chosen to banco, and there are partial bets, the player who has bet the most money is designated by the croupier as the active player. Because the rules of Chemin de Fer are so many and so complicated, each player is supplied with a card, as illustrated at the bottom of this page, describing the player’s and the banker’s rules.