Baccarat often gets a bad reputation from those who’ve tried it for just a few fleeting moments. Some might say that it is a high-roller game. Others insist that it’s too complicated. The truth is that it is neither. With our Go Spin beginners guide covering baccarat rules, we’ll explain how to play baccarat for beginners, and we’ll explain as simply as possible. Let’s get started with the basics.
How to Play Baccarat – The Basic Principle
Lesson one – you don’t need to handle any of the cards or decisions yourself when playing online baccarat. The game handles everything for you. What you need to do is place a bet on whether you believe the banker’s hand or the player’s hand will win.
The objective in baccarat is to pick the hand that gets closest to nine points. Tens and faces count as zero-point cards in baccarat, while aces are worth one point. The game doesn’t use jokers. All other cards count for their numerical value.
The game features two hands (banker and player) and two cards in each hand to kick things off. If the sum of the two cards exceeds nine points, the first digit becomes zero. For instance, having a six and seven wouldn’t equal 13. The first digit becomes zero, giving the hand a value of 3 points. Unlike blackjack, a hand cannot bust in baccarat.
Punto or Banco?
Baccarat bets occur before revealing any of the cards. You’ll decide whether to bet on the banker’s hand winning or the player’s hand. Mathematically, the banker’s hand wins 45.8% of the time, with the player’s hand successful 44.6% of the time. This naturally gives the banker’s hand a small house edge. Ties occur 9.6% of the time, so they are clearly better-paying options, but from a probability standpoint, not the best. Either way, decide on your winning hand before the deal commences.
The Third-Card Rule
During gameplay, a third card may be drawn for either the banker’s hand, the player’s hand, or both. These rules are complicated, but again, we’ll stress that you don’t need to learn more. The game distributes these cards for you. Even so, let’s explain how they work:
- You’ll get a third card if the player’s hand totals 0 to 5. If the hand is worth 6 or 7, no third card arrives. If the baccarat player’s hand totals 8 or 9, it is a “natural” and wins unless the banker’s hand matches it.
Banker’s Hand Distribution
The banker’s hand will draw a third card based on the following rules:
- The banker’s hand draws a third card if the hand has a total of 0-2.
- They draw a third card with a total of three unless the player’s third card is worth 8.
- The banker draws a third card with a total of 4 if the baccarat player’s extra card is 2, 3, or a 4, 5, 6 or 7.
- A third card is drawn for the banker’s hand if it totals 5, and the player’s third baccarat card is 4, 5, 6 or 7.
- The banker’s hand draws another card on sixes if the player’s additional card is a 6 or 7.
Again, it’s worth stressing that beginners won’t need to learn or even understand the Third Card Rule. It is handled automatically for you. Of course, Go Spin encourages you to get to grips with the rule so you can know the house isn’t cheating. However, in reputable casinos, that’ll never be the case.
The only time you’d ever logically get to take control of the cards (and decide on third cards) is if you were playing Baccarat Banque or special Macao-style game variants. Baccarat Banque isn’t widely available, except for a few VIP rooms at online casinos.
Determining a Winner
If either the banker’s hand or the player’s hand has a total worth 8 or 9 from the start (with two cards), then they have “a natural” and will instantly win unless the other hand can match or better it. And if both hands are worth the same, a tie is declared.
If there are third cards, you’ll compare the hands once more. The hand which reaches closest to 9 will win.
Baccarat pays 1:1 if you successfully bet on the player’s hand but only 0.95:1 if you bet on the banker’s hand. This is because the banker’s hand is more likely to occur, so you’ll pay a 5% commission to the house (casino). In you successfully bet on a tie, you’ll receive winnings of 8:1, although this may vary based on the game you’re playing.
Top Tips for Playing Baccarat as a Beginner
All the action may be out of your control when playing baccarat, but this doesn’t mean you can’t use strategy to improve your chances of success. Here are three strategies you may want to look at, albeit with widely differing difficulty levels:
- Bet with the Banker (Easy): The simplest way to go and ideal for beginners, betting with the banker will see you win more often than going with the other bets. However, that 5% commission will limit your profit.
- Baccarat Fibonacci (Intermediate): With this option, you’re essentially using the Fibonacci system (1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8) to bet. The numbers in the sequence determine each bet. You’ll make your bet by adding the previous two numbers in the sequence together. You step back two numbers when you win and move forward to the next number in the sequence when you lose. It is less risky and aggressive than the Martingale but requires a decent bankroll to cover losing streaks.
- James Bond (Expert): The most difficult and costly strategy to utilise, the James Bond strategy, involves splitting your bet on all three outcomes. For instance, $14 on the banker’s hand, $5 on the player’s hand, and $10 on a tie. Covering multiple outcomes relies on you having a big balance to sustain losses. This bet can lead to significant payouts but is highly risky.
Of course, since we’re discussing top tips and basic beginner baccarat strategies, it should go without saying that you should follow the basic rules of probability, so stay away from ties, at least in the beginning.
Experiment with the Top Five Baccarat Variants
In this final section, Go Spin will introduce you to five baccarat variants. These adjust gameplay marginally and may provide different payouts. It’s well worth becoming familiar with these top five baccarat variants, as they lead to alternative ways to win, even for beginners. Here’s our recommended five games:
#1 No Commission Baccarat
As its name suggests, No Commission Baccarat does away with the 5% commission you pay on winning banker’s hands. A banker’s hand will pay 1:1, just like a successful player’s hand bets. To offset that, if the banker’s hand wins on a total of six, the payout drops to 1:2 (or 50%).
#2 Speed Baccarat
In most Speed Baccarat variants, the general rules of the game remain the same as those already detailed. The biggest difference is that just a single deck is in play, and the betting windows in between rounds shorten. It takes roughly 30 seconds to go from betting to prizes. This can prove highly stressful for beginners.
#3 Lightning Baccarat
Developed by Evolution, this live dealer baccarat game features multipliers that can spice up wins. However, it’s more complicated than your average baccarat game. In each round, Lightning Cards are drawn and given a random multiplier worth up to 8x. The player can make use of these multipliers if they appear in the hand they’ve wagered on. Lightning Cards can also be multiplied together, potentially resulting in wins worth many hundreds of times your stake.
#4 Punto Banco
Punto Banco is another name for baccarat. It is Spanish and literally means “point bank”. The basic game is identical to baccarat, although the number of decks may differ. The only other difference is that you’ll be betting on Punto or Banco, rather than Player or Banker. Some Punto Banco games try to differentiate themselves from baccarat by offering wins of 9:1 for tied hands, but again, this is something that will vary from title to title.
#5 Baccarat Controlled Squeeze
Surprisingly, this game is just another basic baccarat game. It gets its name because it allows players to zoom in on the cards. Touching or “squeezing” the cards is popular in Asia, specifically in China, where it is considered good luck. This Evolution-developed live casino game merely uses a camera that allows you to mimic this activity if that interests you. Aside from that and one or two side bets, it’s the same as any basic live baccarat game.
