How to Play Baccarat

The casino game of baccarat is known the world over for its glamour, glitz, and big wins. While baccarat is often portrayed as the game of the high rollers, the rich, and the who is who of society, online baccarat is for everyone. It is exciting and fun for players of all levels of skill, budget, and walks of life.

At NewCasinos.org, we have listed some of the best casino sites to play baccarat. Not just that, we have also created a dedicated section/ blog for baccarat. There, you can find baccarat winning strategies, tips, news, and other nuggets of information you might find useful.

This guide introduces you into the world of baccarat. We’ll touch on the basics, how to play baccarat (gameplay), baccarat rules, betting strategies, and so forth.

Baccarat Setup – The Table

Like other table games, baccarat is all about skill and strategy. And that often starts by knowing the ins and the outs of the baccarat table. Remember this is a game where the “house always wins” rule isn’t applicable. In fact, the average of house edge for most variants of baccarat is around 1.03%, which is pretty low when compared to other casino games like slot machines.

A typical baccarat table has 14 numbers marked from 1 through 15. Why just 14? That’s because the unlucky number 13 is skipped altogether. There’s the tie bet box which is often the furthest from the player, followed by the banker bet box, and the player bet box which is the closest to the player. You can place your bets in any of these 3 boxes.

How to Play Baccarat (Gameplay)

The highest hand in baccarat is 9. The croupier (a fancy name for a baccarat dealer) will deal two face-down hands to you (the player), and to the bank. Occasionally, a 3rd card might be given by the croupier. Like blackjack, the player number at the table doesn’t matter, with 14 being the max.

In baccarat, the players wager trying to get a banker or hit as closest to 9 as possible. They can also play for a tie. The player has to decide how they’d like to wager and for how much. If you hit a natural of 8 points, the hand is said to be Le Petit, while 9 points is known as Le Grande. If one of these two totals is drawn with the 1st of the 2 cards dealt, the le grande or le petit wins. That means that the player handstands and that round of baccarat end. If the two cards are of an equal total, there’s a tie and the round is also over.

The difference between the Player and the Bank Hand

It doesn’t matter if one or 14 players are playing at the table, the croupier only deals two hands. Again, one of these two hands is designated the player hand, while the other is the banker’s hand. Players can wager on either hand – that is, except for the player holding the shoes in the full baccarat game. This player must either pass the shoe to another player or bet on the banker’s hand.

Banker Hand

The biggest misconception is thinking that the bank hand belongs to the casino (the house) and that the player hand belongs to the customer (or the bettor). That’s not true. You can bet on either hand and walk away with a win.

How Baccarat Cards are Valued

The cards are worth their face value with the exception of the picture cards and aces. Only single digits exist, which means that 9 has the highest value. When you reach 9, the value starts at zero and so forth. For example, if you have an 8, and you receive a 4, the value will be 2 and not 12.

Remember:

• Numerical cards from 2 through 9 are worth their face value
• Aces are worth only 1
• Picture cards are worth nothing (zero, 0)
• Suit are not relevant when counting cards in baccarat.

How to Win at Baccarat

As a player, if the croupier deals you a 9 or an 8, you have what’s called a natural. This means that you will win unless the croupier has a 9 or an 8 respectively. If your point total is not an 8 or a 9, the croupier may or may no deal a third card based on the total. In most cases, the third card is dealt to the player, if the total of the first two cards is less or equal to 5. This is part of the rules of the game that are decided by the house and not the player.

Baccarat Betting Options

Betting on Banker Hand: Betting on the banker’s hand is a highly favoured betting type in baccarat and with good reason. It comes with a pretty low house edge of only 1.17%. But since the banker makes more wins than the player or a tie, the casino usually pays 19-20 for your winnings. In a way, the casino is taking an automatic 5% off your win because the bank often wins 3-4 times more than the player hands when it comes to the 8-deck game.

Betting on Player Hand: You are betting that the player hand will have the closest points to 9. It is sometimes called the Punto Bet. Winning at this bet means that the casino will pay you 1-1, and the house edge is around 1.3%

Betting on Tie: It’s what it sounds like – you are predicting that the card totals for the player and banker’s hands respectively will be the same. Because it is less likely, the casino usually pays 8-1 your stake. As you might expect the house edge is a whopping 14.2%.