Most Effective Baccarat Online Winning Strategy
Playing baccarat is an exciting experience for all levels, from the highest rollers to the occasional dabblers. Thanks to its popularity boosted with movies such as the James Bond remake of Casino Royale, baccarat has enjoyed a resurgence in recent years both as a real world casino game and its online equivalent.
As for the strategy of the game, there is little to be learned due to the simplicity of the way it is played. This article takes a look at the game and explores the best ways to play, bet and win.
Baccarat Rules
The rules of this game are relatively simple, making it very easy for newcomers to get started very quickly. While there may be several players seated around a table, there are really only two important people from a player perspective. They are:
- The Dealer/Banker
- The Player(s)
The cards are dealt by the dealer from a 6 or 8 deck shoe depending on the house. But before a single card is dealt, the players must make their bets.
This simplifies the game to the point where there is really no need even to know the value of the hands. The dealer simply takes the bets and applies the winnings to the winning player(s).
To produce a winning hand, the value of each card gets added together and a total score arrived at for the hand. Here's how each card gets scored so you'll know which hand is the winner:
- Ace = 1
- 2-9 = face value
- 10 and face cards = 0
The value of the two cards is added together to produce a single digit total. If the sum exceeds 9, the "tens" digit is simply ignored, so that a two card total of 17 for example will have a score of 7. The general object therefore is to score the highest hand, meaning it needs to score as close to 9 as possible, with 9 being the highest score.
The cards are dealt face up, one at a time to the dealer and each player.
Natural
If any of the dealt hands totals 8 or 9, it is known as a "natural". No more cards are dealt and the player (or dealer) with a natural is deemed the winner. If a player and the dealer have the same hand total, this is a tie.
No Natural Dealt
If no natural hand is dealt, a third card is then dealt to each player with the following exceptions:
- If the sum of a player's hand is 6 or higher he stands (not dealt a third card)
- If the sum of the dealer's hand is 7 he stands
- If the sum of the dealer's hand is 2 or less he must hit (deal himself a third card)
There are some additional rules that are useful to know so you can understand what's happeneing during play. The dealer also must hit of the following rules apply:
- The dealer hand totals 3 and a player's third card is not an 8
- The dealer hand totals 4 and a player's third card is not 1, 8, 9 or 0
- The dealer hand totals 5 and a player's third card is one of 4, 5, 6, or 7
- The dealer hand totals 6 and a player's third card is a 6 or a 7
Betting on Baccarat
Thanks to having a very low house edge, the chances of winning are high. In fact, it has one of the lowest house edges of all casino games. Baccarat is also highly attractive to high rollers as the winnings can be huge thanks to very high payout odds, the highest of all casino games.
There are three bets a player can make:
- The dealer winning (1:1 odds)
- The player winning (1:1 odds)
- A tie (8:1 odds)
There is also a small charge levied on a dealer or player win, known as the "commission" that is generally 4-5% depending on the casino. As you can see, the best payout is for a tie, although the chances of that happening are much lower than either banker or yourself winning the hand. Even so, there is a much higher house edge on a tie which devalues its appeal for many bettors.
Baccarat Strategy
Since the outcome of the game is determined solely by the turn of the cards and the fact that betting is done before the cards are dealt, there is very little in the way of actual card strategy that applies here. But there are still some ways in which you can increase your odds of sinning slightly.
The first is to know the house edge percentages of each bet. A bet on the dealer/banker winning is the agreed best bet, with a house edge of just 1.17%. The house edge on the player winning is 1.36%, while a tie comes with a lousy house edge of 14.12% (assuming a 8:1 payout).
A baccarat table with a single shoe provides the very best house edge at 1%, so seek that out of you can. The best betting strategy therefore is to bet on the banker and avoid betting on a tie.
Tip: If betting on the banker, keep some money to one side as you will need to pay the 5% commission when you finish betting and before you leave the table.
Tip: Make sure that you wisely manage your bankroll and avoid rash bets. This will prolong the game and the enjoyment for you. You can get more info in this how to play baccarat video featured in that newpaper link to the Daily Mail.
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