Chemin de Fer vs Punto Banco
Chemin de fer lets players hold the bank. Punto banco gives the bank to the house and freezes the draw rules.
Both games look like baccarat if you only watch the cards. Two hands, a total that drops the tens digit, a third card sometimes. The money is where they separate. Chemin de fer lets a player hold the bank. Punto banco gives the bank to the house and turns the drawing rules into a script the dealer is not allowed to edit.
Who is allowed to be the bank
In chemin de fer the bank is a shoe and a sum of money that moves around the table. A player puts up the bank. The others bet against that player, up to the amount the bank contains. If the bank wins, it grows, and the same player may keep it. If the bank loses, or the holder passes, the shoe moves. You are sometimes betting against a person you know, at a stake that person chose.
In punto banco the house is the bank on every hand. You do not take the shoe. You bet on a position, usually labeled player or banker, or on the tie. The words are positions, not invitations to become the casino. This is the game whose single round is described in how a baccarat round is dealt.
Who decides on a third card
Punto banco drawing rules are mandatory. Given the totals, the dealer draws or stands because the printed table says so. There is no moment of judgment to admire. A dealer who freelanced would be breaking the game, not showing talent.
Chemin de fer, in its traditional form, gives the banker a limited choice in some totals, and the player who has bet the most against the bank may have a choice in others. The choices are narrow, not a free hand to draw whenever you feel lucky. They are still choices, and they change the social temperature. People read faces. Faces are a weak source of information compared with the totals, and they are a strong source of arguments.
How the price is collected
Punto banco charges the familiar commission on a winning banker bet, commonly 5 percent, because that position wins slightly more often under the fixed rules. The charge is explained in why baccarat charges a banker commission. Some rooms replace the percentage with a reduced payout on a particular total. Either way the price is printed.
Chemin de fer collects its price through the way the bank is organized, often a charge on the banker's winnings taken by the room. The exact percentage is a house rule, not a law of nature. If you sit in a room that offers the older game, ask what the room takes and from whom, before you take the bank. Holding the bank feels like a promotion. The promotion can include a fee.
Which mistakes belong to which game
Punto banco players mostly misunderstand commission, ties, and the idea that a pattern in the shoe is a forecast. Chemin de fer players add a further mistake: treating the bank as an advantage you earned by status. The bank is a position with a price and a risk. It is not a compliment. Salon history, told in baccarat's path into European rooms, explains why the position carried prestige. Prestige is not a probability.
Both games are adult games, legal only in some places. A room that offers one of them should be able to say which one, in a sentence, and show the charge in print.
How to tell them apart in one look
Ask who may hold the shoe, and whether the third card is compulsory. If the house always banks and the draw is a script, you are at punto banco. If the shoe moves and someone at the table is actually risking the bank, you are closer to chemin de fer. Do not rely on the word baccarat alone. Rooms use it for both.
Frequently asked questions
Can I take the bank in punto banco?
No. In the usual casino game the house banks every hand. You bet on a position.
Are the drawing rules optional in chemin de fer?
Some decisions are optional, within a narrow range of totals, and the rest are fixed. It is not a free choice on every card.
Is one of them fair because a player banks?
No. A player-held bank still carries a charge and a risk. A house-held bank still carries a commission. Neither is a fair coin.