Baccarat rules in numbers: the third card, the commission and the side bets

Baccarat looks like a game of pure luck, and for the player it mostly is: you choose a side before the cards are dealt and the dealer does everything else. Yet every card in a hand is drawn by fixed rules, and every bet has a price that can be calculated to the cent. The basics, the card values and the history are on our baccarat page. This article covers the parts the basics skip: when a third card is drawn, what each bet costs, and which tables and side bets make the game more expensive.

How a hand is scored

A hand is worth the last digit of its total, so it is always between 0 and 9.

• Cards 2 to 9 count at face value.
• Tens, jacks, queens and kings count as 0.
• An ace counts as 1.

A 7 and an 8 make 15, so the hand is worth 5. A 9 and a king make 9 - the best possible hand. Each side gets two cards. If either side has 8 or 9 from those two cards, it is a "natural": both hands stand and the round is over.

When the Player draws a third card

The Player hand draws on 0 to 5 and stands on 6 or 7. Nobody makes this decision - the dealer follows the rule every time. If the Banker has a natural, the Player does not draw at all.

When the Banker draws a third card

The Banker's rule depends on two things: the Banker's own total and the third card the Player has just drawn.

If the Player stood on 6 or 7, the Banker draws on 0 to 5 and stands on 6 or 7 - the same rule as the Player.

If the Player drew a third card, the Banker acts by its total:

• 0, 1 or 2 - always draws.
• 3 - draws, unless the Player's third card was an 8.
• 4 - draws if the Player's third card was 2 to 7.
• 5 - draws if the Player's third card was 4 to 7.
• 6 - draws if the Player's third card was 6 or 7.
• 7 - always stands.

This is the whole secret of the Banker side. The Banker acts second and its rule takes the Player's third card into account, so it wins a little more often. With eight decks the Banker wins 45.86% of rounds, the Player 44.62%, and 9.52% end in a tie (figures from Wizard of Odds).

What each bet costs

The house edge is the average share of every stake the casino keeps over the long run. The figures below are for the usual eight-deck game.

• Banker - pays 1:1 minus a 5% commission. House edge 1.06%: on average you lose about €1.06 for every €100 staked.
• Player - pays 1:1. House edge 1.24%: about €1.24 per €100.
• Tie at 8:1 - house edge 14.36%: about €14.36 per €100.
• Tie at 9:1 - house edge 4.84%: about €4.84 per €100.

The commission exists because of the drawing rules. Without it the Banker bet would win more than it loses, and the casino would be paying the players. The 5% on Banker wins turns that into a small edge for the house - smaller than on the Player bet.

The tie bet looks generous because of the 8:1 payout, but a tie comes up in fewer than one round in ten. At 8:1 it is more than ten times dearer than the Banker bet. Some tables pay 9:1, which cuts the edge to about 4.8% - still several times the Banker's cost. Check the payout in the table's rules before you place it.

No Commission tables cost more

On a No Commission table a Banker win is paid 1:1 with no commission, except when the Banker wins with 6 - then it pays 1:2, half your stake.

Evolution's No Commission Baccarat works this way, and the name suggests a better deal. It is not. The Banker wins with 6 in about 5.4% of rounds, and paying half on those hands costs more than the 5% commission did. The Banker bet's edge rises from 1.06% to about 1.46%. The Player bet stays the same.

If a lobby offers both tables, the classic table with commission is the cheaper place to bet on the Banker.

Pair side bets

A Player Pair or Banker Pair bet wins when the first two cards of that hand are a pair, and usually pays 11:1.

With eight decks the first two cards form a pair 7.47% of the time. At 11:1 that gives a house edge of 10.36% - about €10.36 lost per €100 staked, ten times the cost of the Banker bet. Other side bets (Perfect Pair, Either Pair, Dragon Bonus) have their own pay tables. Read the pay table in the game's info panel before you place them.

Patterns and systems

Live baccarat tables show scoreboards: rows of red and blue circles, "big road", "bead plate". They record what has happened. They do not predict anything. Every round is dealt from the same shoe by the same rules, and the result of the previous hand does not change the drawing rules of the next one.

The same goes for betting systems. Doubling after a loss (Martingale) or a 1-3-2-4 sequence changes the size of your bets, not the edge on each of them. We tested the best-known systems on roulette, and the arithmetic is the same here - see roulette strategies, tested.

What to take to the table

• The Banker bet is the cheapest bet in the game - about 1.06% at a table with 5% commission.
• The Player bet is a close second at 1.24%.
• The tie bet at 8:1 and the pair bets cost ten times more. If you play them, treat them as entertainment with a known price.
• No Commission does not mean cheaper - the Banker edge rises to about 1.46%.
• Read the table's rules panel: the tie payout (8:1 or 9:1) and the side-bet pay tables are printed there.

Play within your limits

The house edge means that the longer you play, the closer your result comes to a loss of that size. Set a budget and a time limit before you sit down, and use the limits in your casino account - our guide to responsible gambling tools shows where to find them. If gambling stops being fun, read our responsible gambling page. All the casinos we review are on our all casinos page.