In short: The three main baccarat bets are Banker, Player and Tie. Banker and Player pay 1:1, with a 5% commission on Banker wins, giving house edges of about 1.06% and 1.24% in an eight-deck game. The Tie usually pays 8:1 for a house edge of about 14.4%, and side bets such as Pairs and Dragon Bonus pay more but carry higher house edges.
Unlike Blackjack, in Baccarat players are not given such a great choice of variations and bets to choose from. Actually, the three main bets in Baccarat are Player, Banker, and a Tie. The game also allows side bets to be made but their availability varies from casino to casino.
Speaking of the three betting types, each of them should be placed in a specially designated area on the Baccarat table. They also have a different payout.
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Player and Banker Bet
In Baccarat, there are two sides including Player and Bank. The side which holds a higher card value is declared the winner. The highest possible value one can get is 9. Face cards as well as 10 counts as 0. The Ace is worth 1.
The first thing you have to be aware of is that the Banker bet is considered the most favorable in terms of odds. It has the lowest house advantage, which makes it the most widespread Baccarat betting option. Winning bets pay off 1 to 1, but players should not neglect the fact that a 5% commission is deducted from their winning bets.
Placing a bet on the player is the opposite of betting Banker. The rules are not as favorable as they are for the Banker bet but still, you should consider it during your gameplay. The Player bet also pays off 1 to 1.
The Banker and the player are dealt two cards each. A third card is then dealt to either hand only when the fixed drawing rules require it; players do not request it. The Player hand is completed first, and if it stands on two cards, the Banker hand follows the same rule: it draws on 0 to 5 and stands on 6 or 7.
Your payout for a winning bet on Bank or Player is 1:1. If you wish so, you are given the chance to wager on the player, the Bank and a Tie at the same time. Your winning bet will be paid out and the losses will be collected.
Betting Bank and Player at the same hand is pointless, because the bets cancel each other out and you still pay commission on Banker wins. Some players still like to bet and play every hand in the shoe, especially if you are the only player on the table. Yet, it happens very rarely to play every hand because of the risk you expose your Bankroll to.
Tie Bet
In brief, the Baccarat tie bet means you wager that the outcome of the next hand between the Player and the Banker will be a tie. As mentioned earlier, the odds of this happening are not too beneficial to the player, which is why many Baccarat fans call the tie a sucker bet because of its house edge of about 14.4% when ties pay 8:1 (about 4.8% when they pay 9:1).
Ties pay 8:1 or 9:1 (if you wager one unit that the hand will end a tie and you win, they give you 8 or 9 more units). That sounds really appealing, but tie bets do not happen very often. Various statistics show that a tie bet occurs once per every 11 hands on average. Anyway, players are believed to be more likely to bet on a tie on tables that pay 8:1 because in some cultures, 8 is associated with luck and prosperity.
When a tie comes up, the dealer will most probably call “Press, Change or Rearrange”. According to a popular belief, “Ties come in pairs” and as a result, many players remove the bets they have placed or just move them on the opposite side of the table. If you choose to “Press”, it means you would like to double your first bet.
Playing Baccarat System
Baccarat Card Handling Techniques
Baccarat Keeping a Score Card
Basic Betting Strategy
Baccarat Runs Overview
How To Make Each of the Bets
No matter if you play at a standard full-size Baccarat table or you opt for a Mini Baccarat table, you will notice that The Player betting area is the closest to you. The Banker area is next and the tie betting area is the closest to the center. The chips and the commission boxes are positioned in front of the dealer. In order to start playing, you should place a bet in one of the aforementioned areas on the table.
Side Bets
Although it depends on the casino itself as to what kind if side bets you will be able to take advantage of, you’d better be familiar with the main side bets you might be allowed to place.
Pair Bet
Pair bets are optional side bets offered at many baccarat tables.
In order to take advantage of it, you should place a real money wager. Second, you should be aware that this Baccarat variation offers a higher payout, but that comes at the expense of a higher house edge as compared to the house advantage of Player or Banker bets. The Player Pair and Banker Pair bets carry a house edge of roughly 10% or more, far higher than the main bets.
If you prefer to play it safe, you’d better stick to the standard Baccarat variation.
The Lucky Pairs can be either that the first two cards of the player are a pair or the first two cards of the Banker hand are a pair.
When the first two cards are dealt, the gameplay is brought to a standstill for a while, so the dealer can remove the losing bets from the table and pay out the winning ones. Then, any third cards required by the drawing rules are dealt and the main bets are settled.
The payoff for Banker pair bet and player pair bet is 11:1.
When it comes to playing Baccarat online, you have to make sure the software provider that powers the casino has developed a Baccarat game that meets your demands. For example, you will find the so-called Either Pair bet in Microgaming (now Games Global)–powered casinos. The payout is 5:1.
Dragon Bonus
In brief, Dragon Bonus is a side bet that pays up to 30 to 1. You are declared a winner when your hand wins by a large margin or you just have a natural win.
The Dragon Bonus is considered one of the most widespread side bets in the game of Baccarat. It enables the player to wager not only on Banker’s or Player’s side but also whether the winner will go ahead of the losing side by a considerable amount of points. As mentioned, the larger the margin is, the more significant winnings you collect.
In order to qualify for a Dragon Bonus, you have to make a side bet either on Player or on Banker side. Your Dragon Bonus wager wins if you are lucky to have a natural win or your hand wins by 4 or more points.
Dragon 7/ Panda 8
Both side bets are applicable mainly to EZ Baccarat. Those who have already tried it, would confirm that there is not much difference between the standard Baccarat game and the EZ Baccarat. However, in EZ Baccarat one is not supposed to pay the 5% commission on winning Banker bets; instead, a Banker win with a three-card total of 7 is a push.
