Baccarat Rules & Strategies

Baccarat Rules - Baccarat Strategy - Baccarat System

Baccarat is a casino card game which is normally dealt from a shoe containing 8 decks of cards (although in rare cases a casino may use a 6-deck shoe).

There are two main versions of regular baccarat. The term "Big Bac" is often used to describe the game which is often found in lavish surroundings in a part of the casino that is separate from the noisy hub bub of regular casino games and activity. Up to 14 players can be seated around the huge Big Bac table. Three dealers preside over the game. One supervises play making sure the cards are drawn and played properly and announces the winning side while the two other dealers are mainly responsible for settling the bets. Minimum bets in Big Bac are generally higher and the game often attracts high rollers.

Big Bac is dealt from a shoe which is passed around the table from player to player. Each player has the option of accepting the shoe and acting as the dealer or Bank or he may pass the shoe to the next player. Even though a player is acting as the Bank, he still has the option of betting on Player or Banker.

The term "Mini Bac" is applied to another popular version of the game which moves along at a faster pace and is played at a smaller table usually consisting of positions for about 8 players. In Mini Bac, the players never touch the cards. The game is controlled by only one dealer who deals the cards, announces the winning side (either Player, Bank or Tie) and settles the bets. Minimum bets at the Mini Bac table are usually much lower than regular Big Bac and can be as little as $5 while the standard minimum in most casinos is $10.

Of all casino games baccarat is probably the easiest to play since there are only 3 possible bets that can be made. One can either bet on Banker or Player, or you can bet that Banker and Player will tie. The winning side is the side that completes its hand with a total closest to 9. A winning bet placed on Player pays even money but a winning bet placed on Banker pays even money less a 5% commission for the house. The reason for the house receiving the extra vigorish on Banker wins is the fact that because of the designated hitting rules that govern play, the Banker has a slight advantage over the Player side and if there were not a tax on Banker wins, one could simply bet Banker every time and come out a long term winner. Actually, even with the 5% commission charged, the house edge is still slightly less when you bet on Banker (1.17%) than when you bet on Player (1.36%). Most people approach the game as if the Player and Banker have an equal chance of winning.

As I said, a bet can also be made on the circle marked "Tie". If this bet wins it pays 8 to 1 but it is considered a very poor bet because you are giving the house an approximate 11% advantage.

A player does not need to know the rules which govern the way the hands are actually played out in order to participate in the game. He has only to bet on Banker, Player or Tie. The dealer will supervise play (as in Big Bac) or will actually deal all the cards and announce the winning or losing side (as in Mini Bac).

When the cards are dealt, one card is dealt for the Player, then one card for the Banker. That is followed by a second card being dealt to the Player then a second card for the Banker. All four cards are then turned face up and the totals for each hand are computed. Each card is counted at face value except for tens and face cards which are assigned a value of zero. Aces, of course, have a value of 1. Therefore a hand consisting of the 6 of Diamonds and the Jack of Spades would be valued at 6. But a hand containing the 4 of Clubs and the 5 of Hearts would be a total of 9. If a hand exceeds a total of 10, then 10 is subtracted. For instance a 7 and a 6 which would normally total 13 is read as 3 or a hand consisting of a pair of nines would be read as a total of 8.

Once the cards are dealt and the value of each hand is established, play continues according to a defined set of hitting rules.

When play of a hand begins, after the dealer has dealt the two cards for Player and 2 for Bank, if either side has a natural (a 2 card total of 8 or 9) then play stops right there and the side which has the natural wins. If both sides are dealt a natural, the side with the highest natural wins or else it is a tie hand.

Now, assuming neither Player nor Bank is dealt a natural 8 or 9 with the first 2 cards, play continues in this fashion. The Player's hand is always addressed first and whether the Bank hits or stands is in most cases determined by the outcome of the Player hand. If the Bank does not have a natural and the first 2 Player cards total 0 through 5, then the player must take a third card. When the first 2 Player cards total 6 through 9, then the Player always stands. Neither Player nor Banker will ever receive more than 3 cards.

If the Player does not have a natural, but stands on 6 or 7, the Bank draws a third card if it has a total of 0 through 5 and stands on a total of 6 through 9. Bank always draws a third card when holding a total of 0 through 2 unless Player has a natural.

When the Bank has a 2-card total of 3, it always draws a third card unless the Player drew a third card of 8. In that case the Bank stands.

When the Bank has a 2-card total of 4, it draws a third card if the Player drew a third card of 2 through 7. Otherwise the Bank stands.

When the Bank has a 2-card total of 5, it draws a third card if the Player drew a third card of 4 through 7. Otherwise the Bank stands.

When the Bank has a 2-card total of 6, it draws a third card only if the Player drew a third card of 6 or 7. Otherwise the Bank stands.

The Bank always stands on totals of 7, 8, or 9.

That's it. It may look a little complicated at first, but after you play through a couple of shoes it becomes fairly easy. It's actually pretty logical. The main reason I like to be familiar with the hitting and standing rules is that sometimes the dealer will make a mistake that goes against you. I want to make sure that I catch it and get it corrected.

Keeping Score

You are expected to keep score when playing baccarat. Almost everyone does. The casino will actually furnish you score cards and usually a pen or pencil as well. You may use their score cards or bring your own notebook or score sheet. That is also quite acceptable.

Players keep track of the decisions in order to execute a playing strategy (most people use one of some kind) or to help them catch patterns and runs.

About Baccarat

The word is pronounced bah-caw-rah, not back-a-rat, and it is a card game and has nothing to do with betting on rats. The name "baccarat" came from an Italian word (baccara) meaning zero. The name probably stuck because of the large number of zero value cards used in playing it. All tens and face cards are counted as zero.

Most historians believe the game originated in Italy although the French would also like to lay claim to having invented it. The exact date of its invention is also in dispute with some saying it first began to be played in the mid 1800's having been a spin off of the French game of twenty-one which we now know as blackjack. But the majority consensus is that a gambler in Italy by the name of Felix Falguire actually invented it, then it was adopted and gained great popularity among the French nobility in the 1490's. An early version of the game was probably played during the middle ages using Tarot cards.

The game that was so popular with the French nobility is actually called Chemin de fer and it is still played in some European casinos. It is very much like the game of baccarat found in casinos around the world except the players take turns acting as the Banker and they bet against each other instead of against the house. (This is how the two sides in regular baccarat came to be known as Player and Banker.) Also, some of the drawing rules are optional whereas with regular baccarat they are written in stone and cannot be varied. When Chemin de fer is played in a casino, the house supervises the game and takes a cut of the action but doesn't back either the Banker or the Player side.

From the casino viewpoint, regular baccarat is preferable to Chemin de fer because it can be played with only one player at the table whereas Chemin de fer requires at least two.

Baccarat was first introduced into North America in the 1950's at the Dunes Casino in Las Vegas. The story is told that Frank Sinatra had played the game while visiting Europe and became very enamoured with it. At his insistence, the Dunes, where Frank was a frequent performer, began to offer the game more in an effort to please Mr. Sinatra than anything else.

Also, a casino employee who claims he was there and witnessed the encounter states that the casino set the game up in a garish and tasteless fashion. When Mr. Sinatra saw it, he accused them of making it look like a brothel (except he used more vivid terms). That is how what has come to be known in American casinos as "Big Bac" came to be played in an area apart from the regular casino where the furnishings are lavish and the dealers dress in tuxedos and evening dresses which more closely emulates the European game.

While Big Bac is played at a huge table that seats up to 14 players and the shoe is passed around from player to player as they take turns dealing the cards, Mini Bac is played at a much smaller table that usually seats no more than 8 players. In Mini Bac, there is only one dealer who handles everything. He not only settles all the bets but deals all the cards and announces the winning side. The players never touch the cards. Also, minimum bets tend to be much lower in the faster paced game of Mini Bac whereas Big Bac is tailored more to attract high rollers.

Baccarat is a very easy game to play, perhaps the easiest of all casino games except slots. You don't have to know the rules that govern the hitting and standing, all you have to do is decide whether you want to bet on Player, Banker or Tie.

Winning Banker and Player bets pay even money and are considered to be almost a 50/50 proposition although in reality the Banker does have a slight advantage. But that advantage is pretty much negated because the house charges a 5% commission on all winning Banker bets.

The Tie bet pays 8 to 1 if you win it, but the high house edge on tie bets causes most knowledgeable players to steer clear of it. However, if you stick to just betting on Player or Bank, the game of baccarat has the lowest house advantage of all casino games except for perhaps a blackjack game where house rules are favorable.

Baccarat Strategies

The house edge for baccarat is the lowest of all casino games with the possible exception of blackjack. Under special circumstances in a casino offering very favorable rules, blackjack might be the better game. But otherwise, I would opt for baccarat every time.

With baccarat, the house has an overall 1.23% edge on the even money Player and Banker bets. But the tie bet, even though it pays 8 to 1, carries a whopping 11% edge so it should be avoided.

It should probably be noted that because of the rules that govern how each hand is played, the Banker has a slight advantage over Player. In fact, even with the 5% commission that is generally charged on winning Banker hands, the house edge on Banker is still only 1.17% while bets on Player are at a 1.36% disadvantage. For this reason, some strategies have been developed that bet solely on Banker.

Keeping Score

When you pass by a baccarat table you will usually see most of the players keeping score in some fashion or another. Does tracking each individual decision actually help? I've heard experts scoff at the idea insisting that each decision is independent of the preceding ones and nothing that has gone before has any bearing upon what may occur in the future.

Well, this is an argument often parroted by supposed experts but it is actually not quite true. If we were discussing craps or roulette, then this position might have more credence because they are both infinite games (games with no definite beginning or end) where the random number generators that produce the decisions (the dice and the roulette wheel) are reset after each new decision. But baccarat is a finite game and there is a definite beginning to each new shoe and a definite end (unless the game is being dealt from one of the new high tech continuous shuffle machines). The previous decisions in the shoe have resulted in certain cards being removed that will not be replaced and therefore the composition of the shoe has changed. Now, if the composition of the shoe is changed in a radical enough fashion, it will affect future outcomes. For instance, if 8 nines are played, then it follows that the odds for a natural will be decreased in future decisions because many naturals are composed of a 9 value card and a face card or 10 which produces a natural 9. This particular knowledge may not be directly helpful to the player, but my point is that previous decisions and the cards that have been played do affect future decisions and overall shoe characteristics.

Shoes do often tend to take on characteristics of being streaky, choppy, or more random. For instance, a shoe that has a long streak of Players or Banks come early will be more likely to have another longer than average streak later on in the shoe. It will be more prevalent to streaks than say a shoe that, through the first 15 to 20 decisions, is basically choppy with no streak longer than 4 in a row.

There is another perhaps more important reason for shoe characteristics but it is too involved to go into here. Check out The Guru's Baccarat Methods to learn more about it.

Card Counting

So with the understanding that shoe composition can affect future results, that brings up the question of whether card counting can be an effective tool for baccarat as it is in blackjack. The answer is that it has been tried and some have had moderate success but it isn't something I would recommend for everyone. There is a story of a team of baccarat players that was heavily bankrolled that did enough damage they were supposedly barred from some casinos. They were able to bet table limits when an advantageous situation arose. Otherwise, they wouldn't have made much money. The fact is that situations where the odds are favorable enough to the player to really make a difference only occur once or twice in every two or three shoes. With favorable situations being so few and far between, and considering the maximum advantage one could hope for would only be 2% to 3%, it would be a complete waste of time for the average player to even consider using card counting to help determine whether to place a Banker or Player bet. Because even with a 2% or 3% advantage, an individual would have to place maximum bets of $5000 or more, if allowed, and with the expected bankroll fluctuation which would be inherent in such a small advantage, a lone player would have to play 8 hours a day 5 to 7 days a week to make much money. And you would probably need a $200,000 bankroll to be safe.

Even though card counting is of no practical use when placing even money bets on Player or Banker, in my research I have found that it may possibly be helpful in determining the optimum time to place tie bets. It seems that the composition of the deck has a much greater effect upon the likelihood of a tie occurring than it does the occurrence of Banker over Player or vice versa.

Popular Strategies

There are a few strategies that are probably used in baccarat more than any others. One that you often see and in fact it was the first I ever used is called "Flagship" or "Time Before Last". And the name accurately describes the bet selection. You simply bet on the side that won the decision before the last one. For instance, if the last decisions were Player-Bank, you would bet on Player because it occurred the time before last. This strategy is popular because it will automatically get you on almost any long runs. For instance, if a run of Bank-Bank-Bank occurred, you would be betting on Bank and would continue to do so until the run ended. Or an alternating run of Player-Bank-Player-Bank would result in your being on the winning side every time until the pattern was broken. Of course this strategy has a couple of weaknesses. It is vulnerable to a pattern of Bank-Bank-Player-Player-Bank-Bank-Player-Player etc. It also loses every time a pattern changes and in a normal random shoe, this will often happen enough that the winning runs won't make up for it. Over the long run, theoretically the flagship method should win 50% of the bets. Of course, even if it performed up to expectations it is still a loser because you must win more than 50% of your bets in order to overcome the house edge.

Some players like to combine betting the "Opposite of Time Before Last" with the Flagship approach. Just as the name suggests this method is the exact opposite of time before last betting. The idea being that a shoe tends to go through cycles where there will be runs or more structured patterns which eventually decay into more random patterns. If a player is adept at reading the cycles and flow of the shoe, he might be able to switch back and forth between the two methods and take advantage of these cycles.

Another common strategy is called "Follow The Leader". And once again the name provides an apt description of the method. To employ this strategy one must simply bet the same as the last decision. Surprisingly, this may tend to work better in some casinos than in others because some casinos over the long term will produce more streaky shoes than might normally be expected while others will be more prone to choppy shoes. Once again, there is a reason for this and it is revealed and discussed in some of The Guru's Baccarat Methods. But under normal circumstances, Follow The Leader, as a stand alone approach, has no more chance of winning long term than anything else.

Some baccarat strategies are designed based upon the fact that a normal random shoe will tend to produce patterns or runs in certain proportions. That is there will be a certain number of single decisions like one Player followed by one Banker followed by one Player. That would be 3 singles. Then there are doubles like Player-Player-Banker-Banker etc. On average you would expect to see around 18 single decisions in a shoe. Then there would be approximately 9 double decisions, 4.5 triples and 2.25 groups of 4 etc. Over the long run, when these combinations are tallied, you should find that each succeeding group would appear half as many times as the previous group ad infinitum. Naturally no one shoe would ever produce all these combinations in the exact correct proportions, but this is the mathematical average that should appear over the course of hundreds of shoes.

Considering all the facts and strategies discussed here, it becomes evident that if one is going to beat the game of baccarat long term, he must have an extremely versatile strategy that must not only be capable of adapting to the cycles, changes, and idiosyncrasies of each individual shoe, but of the casino where that shoe is being dealt and ultimately of the game as a whole. The best method I know of to use as a vehicle to accomplish long term success at baccarat is 3-D V.2. Read about it on The Guru's Gambling Site.

Information Provided By The Gambling Guru. GoneGambling extends thanks to The Gambling Guru for providing the above game rules and information.