Baccarat is a casino game that a lot of people will have heard of, but not so many have played, since it lacks the familiarity of games like roulette and blackjack. If you and a friend decide to play with a pack of cards it becomes quite tricky, as there are all sorts of rules to remember when it comes to whether or not a third card can be played. Luckily enough, this isn’t something a player at a casino will have to worry about as the dealer or software takes care of all of that.
In fact when you play baccarat at a casino it is one of the simplest games of all. Basically, you are just picking either the Banker or Player to win, or whether there will be a tie. The ‘Player’ in this case is not you in the casino, and the dealer will play out hands for both the imaginary Banker and Player, you just need to choose your side.
Let’s give an absolute basic one-line explanation of the rules: hands have total value of between 0 and 9, closest score to 9 wins.
So should you back the Banker or pick the Player? Read our 5 Easy Baccarat Tips to find out:
1. Understand the Odds
As I explained in the intro, baccarat at the casino is really a very simple game. You win if you correctly pick either the Banker or Player to win, or are right in picking a Tie. Besides these options, there are various side options to go for, often involving either the Banker or Player making a pair, and we will go into these in a little more detail further along the page.
In the meantime, this table will explain each option you have when you play baccarat, along with your chances of winning, potential payout, and how much is the all-important house edge:
| Option | Payout | Odds of Winning | House Edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Player | 1:1 | 44.62% | 1.24% |
| Banker | 1:1 (-5% commission) | 45.86% | 1.06% |
| Tie | 8:1 or 9:1 | 9.52% | 14.36% (for 8:1 payout) |
| Player Pair | 11:1 | 7.47% | 10.36% |
| Banker Pair | 11:1 | 7.47% | 10.36% |
| Perfect Pair | 25:1 | 3.34% | 13.03% |
| Dragon Bonus (Player) | Varies (up to 30:1) | Varies | ~2.70% for Player |
| Dragon Bonus (Banker) | Varies (up to 30:1) | Varies | ~9.37% for Banker |
| Super 6/Punto 2000 | Banker bet 1:1, except Banker winning with 6 pays 0.5:1 | ~44.62% | 1.46% |
2. Back the Banker to Win
If you haven’t bothered looking too closely at the table above, let’s cut to the chase here. The best odds you have of winning at Baccarat are by backing the Banker to win. In cold hard statistics, there is a 45.86% chance of winning if you pick the Banker to win, compared to a 44.62% chance of the Player coming out on top. Not a huge difference, but over the long run the balance will definitely tip towards the Banker winning more often than the Player.
Your return will be whatever your original stake was – plus your stake returned, of course – although there is an inconvenient 5% commission deducted by the house from your win as a way for them to stay ahead of the game.
3. Avoid the Tie
As I mentioned above, there’s not a huge difference between backing the Banker or Player to win. However, there is a massive difference if you decide to go for the tie. The potential payout is a much healthier 8 or 9 to 1, but the odds of your winning plummet from around 45% all the way down to 9.52%. The casinos love when baccarat players back the tie – and if the casinos love it, that means you probably shouldn’t do it!
Of course, playing baccarat is about having fun and if you fancy more of an adventurous wager then go for it, just don’t expect the tie to come in very often.
4. Player Dragon Bonus is the Best Side Bet
Many of the side bets associated with Baccarat involve an element of additional risk, but the one I would pick out as the best value is probably the Dragon Bonus bet on the Player. This is a wager which pays out based on how much the Player beats the Banker by, and has a pretty low house edge of around 2.7%. The payout varies from 1:1 all the way up to 30:1 depending on how much the Player wins by, with the max payout coming into play if the Player wins by 9 points. The payout is 10:1 if the Player wins by a score of 8 to 0 and so on down the line.
While certainly not a guarantee by any stretch of the imagination, this is a side play that gives you a shot at a really good payout with the safety blanket of a smaller payout. You just need that Player to win!
5. Take a Punt on Punto 2000
Also known as the Super 6 side bet, the Punto 2000 is when you back the Banker to win. The difference between this and a standard Banker pick, is that if you win the Punto 2000 there is no pesky 5% commission deducted from your winnings. The catch? (There’s always a catch). The catch is that if the Banker’s hand value equals 6 then you only get a return of 0.5:1 instead of the standard 1:1.
Still, it’s nice to change things up a little sometimes and the odds of winning are more or less the same as a straightforward Player pick.
Hopefully these top tips will help you to feel confident next time you try your luck on a baccarat table. I recommend you start out playing for free at a social casino like McLuck. That way you can find out which approach suits your style best, and you won’t have to risk a dime!
