In a player-banked game, the money wagered by the players is either put against the funds of one other single player who acts as “the bank” (much as in a house-banked game), or it is put into a common pool of funds that is then distributed to the winner (or winners) when the game (hand) is over. Player-banked games include many variations of live poker games, special variations of blackjack such as California Aces, and pari-mutuel games in which wagers are placed on results of horse or dog races and jai alai games in the United States and Canada.
In poker games that are played socially – probably the most prevalent social game in North America – players usually make an ante bet, that is, a wager before any cards are dealt. The ante is thrown into the middle of the table area. Then either as successive cards are dealt or as individual players are asked to state what they are willing to risk if the game continues, extra money is thrown into the center area by all players wishing to remain in the game. When the betting is done (according to the rules of the game), the winner is determined, and all the money is given to the winner.
When such games are played in casinos or poker rooms (as in California), the house provides a neutral dealer who oversees and monitors the game to ensure that it is honest and that specific rules of the game and rules on betting procedures (antes, raises, limits) are followed. For this service, the house charges either a per-hand price to each player in the game, a fee based upon the time the player is at the table (usually collected each half hour, as in California), or a percentage of the money that is played in the game (the practice in Las Vegas casinos).
The players in the player-banked game are seeking to win money from each other and not from the casino or the poker room organization. In traditional baccara, players rotate the bank, holding it as long as the “bank” position in the game is a winner, then when losing passing it on to an adjacent player. The bank therefore passes around the table as if it were a train moving on a track. The game is also known as chemin de fer, a French expression meaning railroad. In charitable bingo games, the organization running the game sells cards for play. After all cards are sold, the organization totals up the sales (money that comes from the players), takes out its share (usually 20% to 40%), and then announces the amount of money that will be given to the winner(s).
Several Native American tribal casinos use player-banked systems for games that are normally house banked. For instance, in both California and Texas, tribal casinos offer a standard blackjack game with extra opportunities for player wins. The casino still wins money from the actual game, however. This money is then placed into a pool, and players are given chances to win the pooled money by spinning a wheel or playing another chance game. In this way, 100% of the money played is returned to the players, so in a very real sense, their play is merely a redistribution of money among themselves. Another player-banked version of blackjack is called California Aces. Cards are dealt in a standard fashion, but there is no dealer hand. Also there is no busting (losing) for going over 21. Actually 22 is the best hand, and other hands are ranked according to how close to 22 they are, with lower numbers being superior to numbers over 22. (For example, the order of best to worst hands is 22, 21, 23, 20, 24, 19, 25, 18, and so on). All money played goes to the player with the best hand. The casino does not collect any money from the game; however, the players in all these games pays the casino a fee for each hand they play. (After Proposition 1A passed in California in 2000, the Native American casinos there made compacts that allow them to offer house-banked games).
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