Online baccarat
As an easy game to master, baccarat is simple to play and pretty good fun to boot.
It was always recognised as the most popular choice amongst the high rollers because it offers an exciting and fun play featuring in most online casinos, and the VIP lounges all over the world. If you're in search of an authentic casino excitement, this game promises to offer you a simple yet fun experience.
Since online casinos have fewer overhead costs than land based, the payout percentages are usually much higher when played online. With that fact in mind, we have filled this guide with rules, tips and strategy ideas that will assist players while in the process of learning how to play baccarat online.
Top baccarat casinos
Rules
Although it may not be the most popular game in the casino, baccarat is actually one of the easiest games to learn and play. There are three different types of this game: chemin de fer, baccarat banque, and punto banco. Obviously, the latter of the three is the casino baccarat game you are most likely to encounter when playing online and thus it is the one we will cover in this article. That said, it is important to note a significant difference between punto banco and the other two types. Punto banco is the only baccarat version that does not give players any hand decisions which means that much of your strategy with this game is going to be focused on betting. The game is typically played with up to 14 players that all stand around much like a craps table. It is a card game, much like any other that you may have played before. Each player will have the option to bet on three different things: the player, the banker, and tie.
The game will start off with a bet. Each player will have the opportunity to bet on any or all three of the options although you would normally only bet on one (possibly 2). You will have to decide if you want to bet on the player, the banker or a tie.
How does it work?
There is going to be two different spots that a hand will be dealt to, and those are the banker and the player. Each of these spots will be dealt a total of at least two cards and no more than three cards by the live baccarat dealer or computer. The idea is to get the highest possible hand based on a points system.
All face cards and 10's are worth 0 points and the other cards are worth face value (5=5 points). The cards will be added up and in the end, the score will be 0-9. The highest a hand could come out to is 9. The points are added up and the last digit is what you will end up with.
Example:
If the banker has a Jack and a 5 that would equal 5 points.
If the player has a 9 and another 9 that will equal 8 points. (9+9=18) The last digit of 18 is 8 which would result in a score of 8.
Rules
If any of the tow hands has a 9 or 8, the hand is known as a natural, and no more cards will be dealt. Whether or not there will be a third card dealt or not is decided by the rules that were made up for the game.
The third card rule for player
The player will get a third card if the total is less than 5 or equal to 5. The bank will take another card if the player does not take a third card on less than 5 or equal to 5.
The third card rule for bank
The bank draws a card if the total is less than or equal to 2; it does not matter what the player has. Unless the player has 8, the bank takes another card if the total comes to 3. Unless the players 3rd card is 9, 8, 0 or 1 and the bank has a total of 4 then the bank gets another card. If the player gets a third card that is a 7, 6, 5 or 4 and the bank has 5, then the bank gets another card. If the player has 6 or 7 and the bank has 6 then the bank draws. Lastly, if the bank has 7, then the bank must stand. The banker has a slightly better chance to win then player; which will cost you 5% of a commission if you win from betting on the banker. If you bet and win on the tie you will get 8:1 and sometimes 9:1 on your money.
On paper, the game seems fairly confusing, but it is not. You are just betting on one of two things. You decide if you want to bet on the banker or the player, and if you win, you get paid.
Strategy
Baccarat is a casino game that a lot of people do not consider to be strategic. For the most part, you are just choosing between one of two different things to bet on. There is no way to determine which one will win. It is like watching a tennis match with two players that are excellent with one being a little bit better. The problem is that the one player is only better by a small percentage, and it is your least favourite player. The same thing goes with baccarat; one has a slightly better chance to win, but you will also win less if you bet on it.
Although this may seem like a game that is only a game of chance, there are some strategies behind the game. For starters, this game is played with many people. Overall, it is just you vs. the house but there are still other players that you are going up against, and when playing online it can happen in live dealer casinos. You can look at it a couple different ways. Either you are on a team with these people to beat the casino or you are not on a team but still trying to beat the casino.
Betting patterns
The best strategy for baccarat is to come up with your own betting pattern and stick to it. This approach will allow you to hit hot streaks and win in the long run. You are also going to hit cold streaks as well and lose, but that is part of it.
The game is basically built to have a 50/50 chance. The casino is making most of its money on the players that are betting on a tie. The odds that the casino gives you are 8:1 which are not very good.
If you add in all of the times you are going to lose that bet with the times you will lose your player and banker bets it is obvious that you are playing a losing strategy. The best way to win is to stick to a pattern and bet only on the player and the banker while keeping in mind that the banker will win slightly more than the player. If you can get a solid betting pattern, you will win more then lose.
There are far too many people that instantly become attracted to the 8:1. They like that they can win £800 for betting £100. What they do not realise is that the reason that is there is because your odds are stacked up so highly against you. The best way to win baccarat is to simply forget that this bet can even be placed. If you stay away from the tie bet, you will be much better off.
Overall, the strategy of baccarat is simply all about the betting. There is nothing else to the game except for betting. If every player played with the strategy above, the casino would get rid of the game. The casino would not win if every player had a betting pattern and never bet on the tie.
That is proven to be the best way to win at baccarat.
Systems
It is important to differentiate between systems and strategies. Strategies are how you will play the hands whereas systems determine how you will bet. Strategies are designed to cut the house's advantage, and systems are designed to cut your losses. Before covering baccarat systems, it is important to explore basic strategy. Namely, the percentage advantages of each hand and how understanding them can help you to play baccarat more successfully.
First, the house always starts with an advantage. This is true of most gambling room games, and the best way to combat that edge is to understand the game. If you are a beginner, then the safest strategy is to bet on the banker's hand. Why? The house has a 1.29% advantage when you bet on the player hand. They have a nearly 16% advantage on a tie hand. And they have a 1.01% advantage when you bet on the banker's hand. This always makes betting on the banker's hand the safest and simplest foundation for basic strategies, especially because the Banker's hand wins more often than the Player's as a general rule.
This is a helpful strategy for new online baccarat players until they are prepared to move on to a more advanced one. Whatever method you use, once you have chosen a playing strategy, you are ready to move on and optimise it by selecting a baccarat betting system.
- The Martingale system
The Martingale system is one of the oldest and most popular systems in baccarat. It is also straightforward and easy to follow. The basic tactic of the Martingale system is to double your bet after every loss so that the next win will put you at even again.
As with other game strategies, the Martingale system works under the premise of basic odds. The law of averages dictates that any instance where there are two equal choices, you have an equal (or 50%) chance of getting either one. Therefore, you have a 50% chance of winning each hand. So if you lost the last hand with a wager of £1, then winning the next hand with a wager of £2 results in a £1 profit once losses are restored. As soon as the player wins, they are to return to betting the minimum £1 until losing again.
The Martingale system requires a healthy bankroll, as a losing streak quickly raises the bet from £1 to £2 to £4 to £8, etc., and yet because you are only making £1 at a time, it is not a system designed for players that want to win big. If you have the money necessary to play this system, it is great for ensuring you come out a little ahead, but if you have a limited bankroll, you could lose it all because your bets double indefinitely without a win. - The Fibonacci Sequence system
It is based on a series of numbers known as the Fibonacci sequence. These numbers are also frequently referred to as the "Divine numbers". Early proponents of the Fibonacci sequence related it to natural events and proportions, but as it applies to baccarat betting systems it is just a good way for players to bet similar to the Martingale, but with higher profits when they win.
The Fibonacci number sequence starts with zero and proceeds to one. After this, the next number in the sequence is always the sum of the previous two, generating: 1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21 34, etc. For the sake of betting minimums, the 0 is dropped, and you start betting at the £1 minimum. As with the Martingale, your bets progress through the sequence with every consecutive loss. If you would like to bet higher, then you may use the Fibonacci sequence as multiples (for example betting £5 then £5 then £10 then £15).
The Fibonacci system yields higher profits than the Martingale when the player wins, but may also be very destructive to a bankroll when they get on a losing streak. - Other systems
Many other baccarat betting systems exist, including but not limited to the 1-3-2-6 system, the Labouchere system, and the D'Alembert system. When searching for systems online, you will see many advertisements boasting of incredible "secret" systems that will help the player to win every hand. For beginners in baccarat, it is better off avoiding these systems in favour of the more conservative covered in this article.
In fact, we recommend you to avoid all of them because the risk of losing your bankroll is too high in comparison with potential return.