Baccarat rules and best bets

Let’s learn baccarat by playing three hands together.

This is a baccarat table. There are three main bets: player, banker and tie. You don’t actually play a hand yourself, you just bet on which hand will win.

First, the card values. Two to nine count as their face value, aces count as one, and tens and picture cards count as zero. Only the last digit of the total counts, so a seven and an eight make fifteen, which counts as five.

Hand one. We bet ten pounds on banker. Player gets a king and a six, that’s six. Banker gets a four and a five, that’s nine, which is called a natural. Banker wins, and we’re paid nine pounds fifty, because banker wins pay a five percent commission.

Hand two. This time we bet ten pounds on player. Player has a three and a two, that’s five, so player gets a third card. It’s a four, so player now has nine. Banker has seven and stands. Player wins, and we’re paid ten pounds. You don’t need to learn the third card rules, because the game does it all for you.

Hand three. We bet one pound on tie. Player has eight, banker has eight, so it’s a tie, which pays eight to one. We win eight pounds. And when there’s a tie, any bets on player or banker are simply returned.

So how often does each bet win? Banker wins about forty-six percent of hands, player about forty-five, and a tie happens less than one time in ten. That’s why the tie pays more, but over time it costs you far more than the other two bets.

So, three simple tips. Bet on banker or player, avoid the tie bet, and ignore the scorecards, because past results can’t predict the next hand. You can compare what an hour of baccarat costs in our free session cost calculator.

Set a budget before you play. You’ll find more guides at UKCasinoTips.com.