Last Updated: Tuesday, 19 December 2023 16:09

Baccarat rules

Baccarat rules
Baccarat is a standard card game, not only exciting but also fascinating. Although it is quite simple, it carries a lot of fun and the opportunity to have a good time at boring evenings. Thanks to technological advances, you can meet in rooms for the tournament, as well as play baccarat in online casinos. The aim of the game is pretty simple. It is to collect a combination of cards with the number of points close or equal to 9. This page focuses on the baccarat rules.

Basic baccarat rules

  • Each game begins with the placing of bets. There are three possible outcomes: Player win, Banker win, and tie. The player places the chips in the appropriate fields.
  • Once the bets are placed, 2 cards are dealt with the player.
  • The essence of the game is to score 9 points.
  • The denominations define the value of the card.
  • 2 cards are dealt with the player and banker if the player scores less than 5 points, another card is dealt with him/her.
  • In turn, another card is dealt with the banker on the condition that he scores less than 4 points.
  • Otherwise, the player and banker do not get a third card.
  • The winner is the one who scores 9 points or more per hand.
  • Bets are paid according to the winning fields.

Bets

  • Player – This bet is placed on the player's win. If the player wins, the banker takes all the stakes-placed on banker and tie and pays the rates placed on the player. Ratio 1:1
  • Tie – the bet placed on a tie, stake on the same number of points scored by banker and player. If the player wins, the dealer takes all the bets placed on banker and player and pays the rates placed on a tie. Ratio 8:1
  • Banker – this bet is placed on banker win. If the player wins, the dealer takes all the stakes-placed on player and tie and pays the rates placed on the banker. Ratio 1:1. The singularity of this bet is that, according to the rules of the Baccarat game, as a result of winning, there is a fee of up to 5% applied in favour of the casino.

Cards denominations

According to the basic rules of Baccarat game, the cards have the following point value: Ace — 1 point. Ten, Jack, Queen and King — 0 points. The cards 2 to 9 — face value. Note that if the number of points will be equal to or greater than 10, then 10 is deducted from them. For example, if a player has on hand an Eight and a Ten, it means 10 is deducted from 18, so the player gets 8 points.

Game variations

There are several varieties of Baccarat:

  • Macau is the most complicated version, which involves two decks of 52 cards and a small number of players, who can individually acquire and change cards, thus losing points. In this game, the cards are dealt one by one.
  • Punto Banco - another variation of Baccarat in which players and banker have the right to get a third card if they have less than 6 points on the hands.
  • Victoria — this is Macau, with a hand of 2 cards, and rarely — trump cards.

Is it worth playing?

Very often people wonder whether it's worth playing this game. The answer is undoubted Yes. After learning the rules of Baccarat, we understand that the game itself has a small percentage of advantage in favour of the casino. Therefore, it is not necessary to use different strategies because everything is in the game itself. It is worth paying attention to the bet rate you use to increase the probability of winning. Here are 3 types of bets, and one of them is not very advantageous for you, you should forget it right from the beginning.

Betting on banker

According to the current rules of Baccarat game, the most successful bet is the bet placed on the banker (Banco). If we consider, for example, the stake on the player (Punto), the casino advantage is 1.24% and betting on the banker, it will go down to 1.06. You should not make conclusions that betting on the player is a bad idea. It is the same as in Roulette, and it all depends on your intuition. However, if betting only on the banker, the game becomes tedious and monotonous, so both stakes got the same casino advantage. You should also note that, for longer games, the bets on the player should be less than the bets on the banker. About the rates for a tie, they should be avoided, as the casino advantage is 15%.

Choose versions with fewer decks

In many casinos, the players have a choice to play Baccarat with a different number of decks. According to the basic rules of Baccarat, the smaller the number of decks, the lower casino advantage. This allows you to increase the player's advantage over the casino significantly.

8 decks in a game, the chance of winning

  • Betting on the tie - 9.52%
  • Betting on the player - 44.62%
  • Betting on banker - 45.86%

6 decks in a game

  • Betting on banker - 45.87%
  • Betting on the tie - 9.51%
  • Betting on the player - 44.63%

So, if the game is played with 6 decks, the casino advantage is slightly lower than in the game with 8 decks.

Play casino at a lower fee

In Baccarat there is a fee, which is applied to the winning. Usually, it is 5%, so the casino advantage is 1,05% when betting on the banker. However, there are casinos, where the fee is 4%, thereby lowering the advantage of the gambling house to 0.6%. Learn Baccarat rules and win real money at reliable online casinos.

Where to play?

Best online casinos for real money in 2024

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Written by Vladislav Dibrov
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