Learn Online Baccarat Rules

According to the rules of baccarat, up to 14 players can play at one table simultaneously, while in online casinos their numbers is countless. The more players are involved into the game, the more hands are used. It is recommended to play baccarat games with lower number of cards, as that increases chances of winning.

Rules of Betting

In baccarat player can make 3 types of bets:

1. Player - meaning the players hand
2. Banker - meaning the bankers hand
3. and Tie - meaning you both get the same total.

The game starts when two hands are dealt and you bet which one will win (or a tie). Each player may bet on player or banker or tie, just because you are the player does not mean you can't bet that the bank will win!

This style of betting is best compared to betting on red or black in roulette, the zero foils both bets but is very rare, same as the tie bet in baccarat. Similar to red and black bets on the roulette table, the banker and player bets both pay even money on a win (1:1), the standoff pays 8:1 in most land and internet based casinos.

The big rule to remember here is that the banker bet will incur a tax or commission if you win, whereas the tie and player bets will not. The reasoning behind the tax / commission is that over an 8 card deck the bank will win 3 to 4 hands more than the player. So the tax/commission bring the odds back towards the favor of the house. It should be noted that this still only makes the house edge around 1.17% which is the most favorable odds in the casino today!

Moral to the story: Baccarat is the best bet for you winning at the casino!

This is really so and baccarat is considered to be even more advantageous than online roulette or blackjack. The banker and the player are dealt 2 cards, the value of a hand is determined by adding the face values of the card, remembering that aces count as 1, and tens and picture cards count as 0. If either banker or player has a total of 8 or 9, the hand is called a "natural" and its owner wins.

If there is not natural the following casino game rules are applied:

Rules for the player hand:

• If the players first 2 cards total 5 or less, the player is dealt another card.
• If the total is 6 or more, the player stands.

Rules for the Bankers hand:

• If the bankers hand totals 0, 1, or 2, the banker draws.
• If the bankers hand totals 7, he stands.
• However, if the total of the first 2 cards is 3, 4, 5 or 6, then the banker hitting depends on whether the player drew the card
• If the player does not draw a third card, then the bank's hand stands on 6 or more and takes a third card on a total of 5 or less.

However, if the player did draw:

• If the banks total is 3 then the bank hits unless the players third card was an 8. (ie hits on a 9)
• If the banks total is 4 then the bank hits unless the players third card was a 0, 1, 8, or 9.
• If the banks total is 5 then the bank hits if the players third card was 4, 5, 6, or 7.
• If the banks total is 6 then the bank hits if the players third card was a 6 or 7.
If the banks total is 7 then the bank stands.

In order to understand this process, you’d better check a table below:

                Bank Drawing vs. Player's 3rd Draw Card
                                        
                        Bankers Total        
         0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
        ------------------------------------------
        None D D D D D D - - - -
        0 D D D D - - - - - -
        1 D D D D - - - - - -
        2 D D D D D - - - - -
        3 D D D D D - - - - -
        4 D D D D D D - - - -
        5 D D D D D D - - - -
        6 D D D D D D D - - -
        7 D D D D D D D - - -
        8 D D D - - - - - - -
        9 D D D D - - - - - -
        ------------------------------------------
        D = draw, None = no 3rd card drawn by player
                                        

The winning hand is the one that totals a higher single digit value, just like in  online blackjack. The differene is that in blackjack you need to be as close as possible to 21, while in baccarat – to 9 points.

Well that's enough of the rules, time to visit strategies page to beat the game!