Baccarat is an easy-to-play card game where you bet on two things: if the dealer or player will win, and whether the hand value will be closer to 9 or to the sum of its parts. In other words, a total of nine.
If you are new to this game, here are seven things you may want to know before playing baccarat online.
It’s a Game of Chance
At the most basic level, you can do nothing but put your chips on one side or the other – either the banker’s hand or player’s hand — and wait for them to reveal their hands and see who wins.
You will always win if your bet is on the winning hand. Unlike most casino games, each hand of baccarat only has two possible outcomes: either the banker wins or the player wins.
The essence of gambling lies in placing a wager on one side and praying for luck to be on your side while crossing your fingers and toes that you win big!
Rules of Baccarat
The rules are very simple. A standard game of baccarat at online casinos like Winbig7 begins with each player placing an ante bet (smallest allowed bet) on the table. These small bets go into a common pool that is won by whomever receives the highest hand value. The betting then progresses left, with players able to place more chips on the next highest winning hand and so on.
When the wagering is done, two cards are dealt out to the player and the banker. All cards in baccarat have a value of 0 through 9. The hand value of each hand then simply adds up all the numbers on both cards (the face-value of any picture card or 10-point card counts as zero). Any card with a value of 0 counts as 10.
The hand closest to nine wins. If the player has a 7 and an 8, then the total is 15 which would lose to the dealer’s 8 holding a 9 or a 6 holding a 5 or even that ace standing alone. Any hand totaling more than nine “busts” and automatically loses.
In the event that both the banker and player have a hand totaling nine, then no one wins that round, but all wagers are carried over into the next game. A tie also happens when the two cards of each hand are identical (e.g., both players get 9s).
Banker Versus Player
The game does not have to be played with a real dealer. You can play baccarat online on your smartphone or on the computer. Some gambling websites like Winbig7 offer free baccarat where you bet against the “banker” slot machine instead of against another player, while others offer live dealer games where you can interact with a real croupier.
Depending on the rules of the house, you will win roughly 50% of your bets if you bet on the bank and stay with that hand until it wins. If you choose to bet on the player however, then your winning percentage is about 1%.
Strategy — How to Win at Baccarat
Baccarat does not have the element of skill like blackjack or poker. Every hand has only two possible outcomes: either the bank or the player wins. There is no such thing as a push, and those who play baccarat simply rely on lady luck to smile upon them with a winning hand.
Which side you bet on does not matter since there’s a 50/50 chance of winning either way. The bets you make don’t affect the outcome as they only decide whether you get back half your money or all of it. It is recommended to place a big bet when you have a strong hand and a small bet when you’re unsure.
Card Counting in Baccarat
Baccarat is a game that cannot be beaten by card counting. Once the dealer has shuffled the cards, they are placed into a shoe and then a cut card is put in to separate one portion from the other. This means that there is no way to determine what cards have been dealt by their location in the shoe.
In blackjack or poker, card counting allows a player to know what cards have been played and memorize them in order to calculate the percentage of cards left. It can then be estimated when a specific card will come up. The idea is that an ace, which counts as one, would cause the average of ten to drop while a two through six would increase it.
Card counting in baccarat is essentially impossible because of the randomness of the play. Play continues until a total value over nine is reached and then it cycles back to zero. There are also no “counters” or cards that don’t contribute to the outcome since all cards have a specific value.
Baccarat Cheat Sheet and House Edge
The house edge in baccarat depends on the type of bet you make. When betting on the bank, players can expect about a 1% advantage against them.
When betting on the player, they lose about 50% of their wagers. However, if a tie occurs between either the banker or player and the “player”, then all bets carried over to the next game and they will be lost in the event of another tie.
Strategies for Playing Baccarat Online
To win in online baccarat, players should stick with high-value cards and aim for a five or higher when calculating their hand’s total value. A pair of fours is not a terrible hand because it can be turned into a seven or higher with an ace. However, any hand that totals less than five is doomed to fail since the highest score is nine and going over it will cause you to lose whatever your bet was.
If you do happen to get lucky and win the game though, then go ahead and keep playing for as long as possible. Casinos will want players who gamble forever instead of just doing it once because they know that most people lose in the end. So if you don’t mind losing all your money, then go ahead and play as much as you want.
Takeaway
In conclusion, baccarat is a very simple game to play where players simply place bets on either the bank or the player. There’s no strategy involved and it all comes down to chance from there onwards. You can win if you get high-value cards that total nine or higher or if you get a five or more from your two cards.
Keep in mind that the odds are always against the players as the house edge isn’t really small. However, as long as you play it smart and don’t go overboard with your bets, then there’s no reason why you should lose every time.
