Baccarat – Understanding the Odds
A few readers have been asking me lately about Baccarat, which is offered at many of the Bay Area’s casinos and cardrooms. The game is one of the oldest casino games and can be a lot of fun, even when you’re not winning big. But as with any table game, it’s important to understand the odds.
In a nutshell, you bet on which hand — player or banker — will have a total closest to nine. The tens count as zero and the aces as one. You can also bet on a tie, but that bet pays just eight to one and is among the five worst bets in the house. Yet it continues to attract countless baccarat aficionados who are more interested in hunches than odds.
The dealer deals two cards to each box, revealing the players’ and banks’ hands in sequence. If the bets on the player and banker sides match, you win. But if the third-place bet is on a tie, you lose. The croupier then announces the results of the hand, and if you won, you take your chips to the cashier and collect them. If you lost, you place new bets on the next round.
Baccarat is played with six decks of cards, which are shuffled together and then dealt out in a shoe that sits on the table. The dealer then follows a set of rules based on the cards that are shown to decide whether the Player, Banker or Tie bets must draw a third card. These rules are usually written on the table for easy reference.
High rollers have always been drawn to baccarat, but it can be risky. The house edge is about 1.2 percent on the player and banker bets, while a bet on a tie has a much higher house edge of over 14 percent. But baccarat can produce healthy revenue for casinos, especially for those that have large pools of both mass and VIP play.
As a result, it’s a popular choice for casino groups that want to offer a premium experience without sacrificing mass business. This requires operators to astutely evaluate their financial position and tolerance for risk when deciding which customers to pursue and what limits to set. For smaller operators, especially those with fewer deep pockets, a concentration on high-limit baccarat can be untenable.
A few readers have been asking me lately about Baccarat, which is offered at many of the Bay Area’s casinos and cardrooms. The game is one of the oldest casino games and can be a lot of fun, even when you’re not winning big. But as with any table game, it’s important to understand the odds. In a nutshell, you bet on which hand — player or banker — will have a total closest to nine. The tens count as zero and the aces as one. You can also bet on a tie, but that bet pays just eight to one and is among the five worst bets in the house. Yet it continues to attract countless baccarat aficionados who are more interested in hunches than odds. The dealer deals two cards to each box, revealing the players’ and banks’ hands in sequence. If the bets on the player and banker sides match, you win. But if the third-place bet is on a tie, you lose. The croupier then announces the results of the hand, and if you won, you take your chips to the cashier and collect them. If you lost, you place new bets on the next round. Baccarat is played with six decks of cards, which are shuffled together and then dealt out in a shoe that sits on the table. The dealer then follows a set of rules based on the cards that are shown to decide whether the Player, Banker or Tie bets must draw a third card. These rules are usually written on the table for easy reference. High rollers have always been drawn to baccarat, but it can be risky. The house edge is about 1.2 percent on the player and banker bets, while a bet on a tie has a much higher house edge of over 14 percent. But baccarat can produce healthy revenue for casinos, especially for those that have large pools of both mass and VIP play. As a result, it’s a popular choice for casino groups that want to offer a premium experience without sacrificing mass business. This requires operators to astutely evaluate their financial position and tolerance for risk when deciding which customers to pursue and what limits to set. For smaller operators, especially those with fewer deep pockets, a concentration on high-limit baccarat can be untenable.