Play Baccarat Online

Baccarat Rules

The basic goal of Baccarat is to bet on who you think will win each hand. There are three bets that can be placed:

1) The Banker
2) The Player
3) Tie

To determine a winner or a tie, each card is given a specific value. The winner of the hand is whichever one is closest to the value of nine. Cards 2-9 are assigned face value, meaning a 2 is worth 2, a 3 is worth 3 and so on. Tens through to kings are worth zero and aces are worth 1.  The highest possible hand is nine. Therefore if two cards in players hand total more than 8, you take the right part of that number as the total.

Example: The banker is dealt a 6 and a 7. This brings the total face value to 13. Since 13 is higher than 9, you take the 3 from the actual total and this becomes the true point value, which would be 3. The banker’s hand now has a value of 3. Two cards are dealt to each the banker and the player. What these cards are, will determine if a third card is dealt to either the banker or the dealer.  

Baccarat Variations

Punto Banco: Most Baccarat games that are played in today’s casinos are all the same. The official name is called “Punto banco”. In rare situations, you may find a version that deals a hand to each player at the table versus the traditional where only one hand is dealt that all players bet on.

Baccarat Odds

House Edge: Online casino baccarat offers one of the lowest house edges of any game at just about 1%. This means the house has a 1% advantage in the long run. All casino games have a fixed house edge, but some games are as high as 5-10% in favor of the house.

Even Money: Both the player and banker bets have a payout at even money.  Meaning if you wager $1 on the player and win, you would win $1. But because the banker wins at a slightly higher rate than the player there is a 5% commission paid on winning banker bets. The tie bet has a payout of 8-1 or 9-1 depending on which casino you play at.  One of the advantages to playing online baccarat is that there are many games that offer a 9-1 tie bet, though there may be limits on bet size as this is considerably better odds than 8-1.

Playing Baccarat Online

Practice For Free: The best option for beginners is to try Baccarat online where you can play for free. You can get to know all the rules and exactly how the game is played before risking any of your own money. Once comfortable, you can switch to real money mode. With the graphics and gameplay offered by our recommended online casinos you will feel like you are playing for real in Monte Carlo even though you be living in Cape Town or Johannesburg!