Here are a few tips on the game of Baccarat to think about. Keeping these tips in mind should
make your Baccarat experience a more enjoyable one.
Avoid betting on a tie.
Calculations show that a tie hand is dealt about 9.55% of the time (for a true payoff of 9.47
to 1) for which the casino pays 8 to 1, this results in a house edge of 14.04%. Some casinos
offer a better deal by paying 9 to 1 for a tie for a lower house edge of 4.57%. With a house
edge on the house of 1.17% and on the player of 1.36% why would you bet on a tie with a much
larger house edge?
Bet with the house.
In Baccarat the probability of winning is 45.8% for the house, 44.6% for the player and 9.5%
for a tie. Removing the tie hands, as it is a push, you end up with the house winning of 50.7%
of the time and the player winning at 49.3% of the time. The preceding calculations would seem
to favour you always betting on the house to win, however the casino adds a 5% commission on all
winning house bets. This 5% commission looks like it would switch the odds in favour of the
player winning, but this is not true. To understand let's look at simple situation - 100 $1
bets - made first on the player and then on the house. The bets on the player would result in
wins of $49.32 and loses of $50.68 a loss of $1.36. The bets on the house would result in wins
of ($50.68 less 5%) or $48.15 and loses of $49.32 for a loss of $1.17. The house edge guarantees
that they will always win, but you will lose less betting with the house.
Avoid betting on or against streaks.
Some players believe that they can win if they analyze previously played hands in an attempt to
spot streaks or trends. Some players believe that a hot streak will continue and to win they
should bet on the streak continuing. Other players believe the opposite, that a streak of two or
three wins is the maximum that will occur, and bet against the streak continuing. These
strategies don't work; the chances of winning and losing the next hand are almost the same and
since the outcome of a hand is independent of the last hand the game is unpredictable. The
outcome of each hand is truly random.
Card counting is not worth the effort.
It would seem logical that if you kept track of the cards already used during play you could
gain an advantage. A study was made and did show that there was an advantage to be gained,
however the advantage was very small and happened very infrequently. The conclusion was made
that card counting worked minimally but offered no practical advantage in playing Baccarat.
Consider Playing Baccarat rather than Mini-Baccarat.
Some gamblers prefer regular Baccarat with its higher limits because the pace of the game is
much slower and they lose less over a given time than when they play Mini-Baccarat. With
Mini-Baccarat, because of the fast pace of the game, you may lose so many small bets that you
exceed the amount you would have lost playing regular Baccarat. Mini-Baccarat hands can be
played with remarkable speed, sometimes exceeding 60 per hour, and your losses can quickly mount.
If you stick with Mini-Baccarat consider a system to stop you from betting on every hand.
