Want to make money in Vegas? Simply walk up to a baccarat table and say, "I want to play baccarat!"
Standard baccarat table. Notice the lack of players.
Wait, you say you've never played baccarat? Why not? It has one of the lowest house advantages of all casino games, and there is no strategy to learn.
Simply sit at the table, and place a bet on the banker. Then, sit back and watch as you nearly double your money just over half of the time.
Baccarat is played with six or eight decks of cards, no jokers. Aces are worth one, 2-9 are worth their face value, and 10, J, Q, and K are all worth zero. Two cards are dealt face up to both the "Player" and the "Banker". After the cards are dealt, their values are added together, dropping the tens digit if necessary (a six and a seven would total up to three). If either the player's or the banker's total is eight or nine, the game ends immediately, and the dealer pays the bets of the winning side.
If neither the player nor the banker total eight or nine, a third card may be dealt based on a predetermined set of rules. These rules are confusing, but the key is to note that the bettor does not make any decisions.
- If Player has an initial total of 0–5, he draws a third card. If Player has an initial total of 6 or 7, he stands.
- If the banker total is 2 or less, then the banker draws a card, regardless of what the player's third card is.
- If the banker total is 3, then the bank draws a third card unless the player's third card was an 8.
- If the banker total is 4, then the bank draws a third card if the player's third card was 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.
- If the banker total is 5, then the bank draws a third card if the player's third card was 4, 5, 6, or 7.
- If the banker total is 6, then the bank draws a third card if the player's third card was a 6 or 7.
- If the banker total is 7, then the banker stands.
After all cards are dealt, the dealer pays the bets of the winning side; if there is a tie, then the bet is a push.
Difficult to remember? That's why your job is to bet on "Banker" and sit back.
If you get a zero, yell "Baccarat!" Other players will eventually leave.
The banker wins 46 times out of 100 hands, the player wins 44.5 times, and there is a tie 9.5 times. Because of the banker advantage, the house charges a commission of 5% of any winnings from betting on the banker.
Overall expected return on betting "Banker" in baccarat is 98.94%. What if you bet player? Well, stay tuned for a later article that discusses why betting "Player" is the better bet.
WARNING: It takes about ten seconds to deal a baccarat hand. Don't plan on staying for very long.
