Baccarat 101 – Understanding the Game and Its Variants
Baccarat is a game that involves betting on the outcome of the game – whether it is the banker, player or tie. The player who lands a hand closer to 9 wins. A two-card hand adding up to nine is called a ‘Natural’.
Experts suggest establishing boundaries for both a win amount and a loss amount every time you set to play, so that you can end your wagering when you hit either, causing you to cap the potential loss and hopefully keep you from straying too far in the downwind.
Game rules
In terms of its rules and its payouts, baccarat is not really so different to other casino games, though it does feature a few interesting quirks. No dealer plays an active role in the game, for instance; instead, they just push around two cards for the player and banker spaces and players bet on whether either of those hands will score closer than 9 to the other.
The winning hand is the one closer to nine than the other. Suits do not matter in baccarat, as they do in other card games such as blackjack, and an Ace counts as one point, whereas 10s as well as Jacks, Queens and Kings count as zero points. If a hand goes above nine – that is, it is more than 15 – such an exchange counts as five in baccarat.
Players will make wagers on any of the three Player, Banker and Tie hands, as well as Dragon Bonus side bets, but because side bets pay out smaller than their mirror main bets, players can choose not to place these bets if they don’t like the relatively smaller prospective returns after adjusting for the Lightning Fee. The perception of unequal odds betting is generally not favourable to players, and this perception could add further discouragement in driving traffic to BetOnline’s newly introduced lightning dice variant – a mix of Craps and Lightning Roulette in effect that is likely to have players doing a double take before they sit down to play.
Bets
Baccarat allows for a variety of bets, but there is no strategy in baccarat since the result of every baccarat hand is coincidental – like in roulette – where some gamblers, using the game of ‘hot and cold’ and ‘consecutive’ results on a traditional dice toss, attempt to predict the probable outcome of a reserved dice-toss (such as a six being defined as ‘hot’ because it is more probable to occur, rather than an escape), so do baccarat players count patterns or predictors for the outcomes of the game. But while these strategies cannot dictate the actual result of each baccarat hand, as all bets operate on chance, they can help the gamblers focus and concentrate their bets so as to avoid overanalysis of what is purely unpredictable occurrence.
The practice of good bankroll management begins with formulating a structured game strategy by setting realistic targets for accumulation of winnings; deciding in advance when to quit both when ahead as well as after incurring losses. This helps in avoiding the blowout of your funds and playing like a disciplined professional at the tables.
The rules and many of the betting environments might appear to be more complex than you would like at first. This complexity might discourage you from giving playing a shot, but do not let it. Amongst Blackjack, Roulette and other casino games, there are very simple principles that you can easily pick up in order to get started. For example, here is one betting strategy you can master with casino games, let’s call it Martingale: double your bet size after every loss (and after a win, reset it to what it was). This is obviously a risky way forward, but with this strategy you can at least ensure you recover your losses and start making money by going up one increment at a time. This suits people who are just getting started and do not want to risk making big losses as a new player.
Payouts
Baccarat has long been synonymous with rich and high-class entertainment. It has been repeatedly featured in movies and popular culture as an elegant game for the wealthy. Adding to the luxury appeal of the game is its simplicity (only two betting options) and low house edge – all of which combine to make Baccarat a perfect game to play.
Baccarat is pleasantly easy to play. The scoring values of the cards are as follows: The numbers from two to nine have their face values; the 10s, royal cards (jack, queen, king) and Aces count as just one point each. The objective is to reach a count of as close to nine as possible – without going above that.
Baccarat also offers a selection of side bets that offer different payouts – Example: Duo Bao pays out when either the player or the bank have two-card combinations that make up a pair in dealing its first two cards; but Either Pair pays out when one of them has eight or higher specifically in the form of a pair on their initial two cards.
Variants
Casino stuffiness and promises of six-figure winnings flow around baccarat, but the process of learning how to play it is surprisingly easy. There’s nothing to learn but you.
The only aim of the game is to get a hand value as close to nine as possible. Cards held by Players and Banker are counted as their face value, ten being zero points and Aces being one point. If the hands of Player and Banker are tied at the same value, it is a tie.
Players can bet on either Banker or Player hands or the Tie bet (which pays out at odds of 8-9 to 1 for winning hands – though that 8:9 payout hardly makes up for the added risk). Other side bets are rarely worth the additional effort, often encouraging play and fattening the house’s profit from these costly ventures.
