Baccarat has quickly become one of the most beloved card games in gambling, due to its ease of learning and low house edge. As such, it has quickly become one of the most beloved casino and online gaming experiences – even featuring in some James Bond movies!
As opposed to other casino games, baccarat does not involve skill or complicated rules – it’s simply a matter of luck! Bettors place wagers on either the Player hand, Banker hand or tie; should any win occur, bettors are paid in accordance with their stakes. There are five main bet types used in a game of baccarat: Player’s Bets (the Player Hand, Banker Hand and Tie Bet), Tie Bets, Super Six Bets and Pair Bets (the latter three also known by their acronyms). Their respective rules for these bets is as follows:
Before betting on any hand, a player must determine their odds of success and understand how cards rank within the game – nine being the top score in a hand, 7 second best and 6 third best respectively; totaling eight or nine wins; anything over 9 loses.
Once players have made their bets, the dealer distributes two cards each for themselves and for the banker (known as “bankers”). Players and bankers reveal their hands. The hand with the highest value (calculated by adding all cards together but counting only their rightmost digit) wins.
Banker hands typically prevail around 45.8 of the time while Player hands will win 44.6 percent of rounds; 9.6% are drawn into tie. As such, choosing Banker over Player bets with house edges of around 14% would be much wiser.
In the event of a tie, players have the option of asking the dealer to draw one additional card; if both player and banker hands total 9, it is considered a natural win and no additional cards will be drawn.
Baccarat is an immensely popular game among high rollers, playing it at many top casinos around the world. Bill Zender, former Nevada Gaming Control agent, casino dealer, and executive who wrote the book on managing casino games – said Asian high rollers had made baccarat their game of choice, due to cultural reasons as well as its low hold percentage at around 1.2 percent on banker and player bets (compared with 14-18% average hold percentage for blackjack and slot machines respectively).