Baccarat is one of the most popular casino table games, and is played at most of the larger brick-and-mortar casinos in the UK - although it’s most popular in China and other parts of East Asia. As with most table games, Baccarat is also available in many different forms at virtually every online casino around.

Despite being such a prolific table game, if you try to jump straight into playing Baccarat we guarantee you’ll have no clue what’s going on, as it isn’t an intuitive game at all. That said, it’s actually a pretty simple game once you’ve had the rules explained to you.

What is Online Baccarat?

Online Baccarat is played with standard playing cards, usually dealt from a shoe of 8 decks. (Though occasionally you’ll find Baccarat played with a shoe of 6 decks.)

The dealer does practically all of the work in Baccarat, dealing two hands simultaneously, called the “banker” and the “player” hands. As the player, you can actually bet on either the banker hand or the player hand,there are side bets like pair or tie but they have significantly worse house edges. Each bet has different odds and different payouts.

The aim of Baccarat is to get as close to 9 as possible on whichever hand you have bet on - unless you bet on a tie, in which case you want both hands to be, well, tied. (Shocker, right?)

How do you Play Online Baccarat?

When you take your virtual seat at the Baccarat table, you’ll be presented with a board that says “Player”, “Banker” and “Tie”. These are the main three bets you can make in Baccarat. Here’s an example of a Baccarat table - this one is from live online Baccarat at Pokerstars.

Here you can see the dealer, the shoe, the table where the dealer will deal the cards for the Player and the Banker hands, and the section at the bottom where you will place your bets.

We want to pay attention to the section at the bottom which gives the odds for each of the three main bets - player, banker and tie. This is also the section where you place your bet. Let’s take a closer look.

So, as mentioned, you have the option to bet any amount (from £1 minimum bet in this example) on player, banker or tie. You can also see options for “P Pair” - that’s “Player Pair” and “B Pair” - “Banker Pair”. These side bets pay out when the player or the banker are dealt a pair, regardless of whether they win (by getting closest to 9) or not.

What are the card values in Baccarat?

The goal of Baccarat is to get as close to 9 as possible, but in order to do that, you need to know what each card’s value is. As in Blackjack, the values of the cards are not immediately obvious to newbies when playing Baccarat online.

The values of the cards in Baccarat are as follows:

• Each number card from 2-9 is worth its face value (e.g. 7♣ is worth 7)

• 10, Jack, Queen and King are worth nothing. Big fat zero.

• Aces are worth 1.

What are the rules for Baccarat?

The rules for Baccarat are very complex, luckily you don't have to remember any of them, the dealer will take care of the whole thing. In case you were interested here are the rules:

• If either the player or banker is dealt a total of eight or nine, both the player and banker stand.

• If the player’s total is five or less, then the player will receive another card. Otherwise, the player will stand.

• If the player stands, then the banker hits on a total of 5 or less.

Is Baccarat a game of skill?

Baccarat is a game of chance, not a game of skill. There’s no real online baccarat strategy that you can use to beat baccarat, although some people do try to implement variations of the Martingale strategy typically seen in roulette. (This is a bad idea.)

The best bet in online baccarat is to bet with the banker, as it has the lowest house edge. Outside of that, the most skill you can enact when playing baccarat is to set an amount that you’re happy to play with, and then stop playing if you lose it all.

Online Baccarat odds

The odds of winning in Baccarat change depending on which bet you make. Some bets are less likely to win than others, and as such have higher corresponding odds.

At 11:1, the pair bet has the largest payout, but it also is the bet you’re least likely to win on - so will drain your wallet in no time. In comparison, the banker bet pays just 0.95:1 (assuming 5% commission)  but is also the bet which is most likely to win.

All baccarat house edges are as follows:

• Banker - 0.95:1

• Player - 1:1

• Tie - 8:1

• B Pair - 11:1

• P Pair - 11:1

Online Baccarat house edge

The different bets in online Baccarat have different house edges which vary greatly. The house edge isn't even the same on Banker and Player due to complex rules listed above. That's the reason for the commission, without it betting Banker would have a positive expected value.

• Banker - 1.05% (Assuming 5% commission)

• Player - 1.23%

• Tie - 14.3%

• B Pair - 10.36%

• P Pair - 10.36%

Online Baccarat Strategy

There are no proven winning strategies in Baccarat however some players like to use patterns to inform their decisions. The commonly held belief amongst baccarat players is that the game plays in runs, so Banker or Player might run hot for a period of time prompting players to always bet on the previous winning outcome. 

We recommend that you just always bet Banker because of the lower house edge. At just over 1% it's a very good bet to make, that doesn't require you to learn any fancy rules or strategy like you would need to in order to get that same house edge Blackjack.

Best Places to Play Online Baccarat

Unibet

Unibet operates 18 Baccarat tables 24/7/365 at various betting limits and with differing side bets.

All of the games are operated by either Evolution Gaming or Pragmatic Play. 

Pokerstars

Pokerstars have a whole lobby of Baccarat tables available all hours. We counted 22 at time of writing but this can differ depending on the time of day. Minimum bets are mostly at the £1 level although there is always a £1000 minimum bet private table (1 player) available.

All of the Baccarat games on Pokerstars are operated by Evolution Gaming.

You may also like