If players want to learn how to play Baccarat casino game, don’t pay attention to James Bond. Even before he switched to Texas Hold’em, the Baccarat game Bond was playing was old-school Chemin de Fer, a game variant that remains popular in France alone. That casino game requires a certain amount of skill. The rest of the world (Ignition Casino included) plays the Punto Banco game of Baccarat, and in this casino game, all the decisions are made for you, online. Everything you need to know is right here in this quick online Baccarat guide.
Baccarat Basics
In its simplest two-player form, Baccarat games pits the Player (punto) against the online casino Dealer, known as the Banker (banco) in this case. The play object is to make the better Baccarat hand, up to a maximum score of nine. Tens through Kings are worth zero points, Aces are always one point, and the other cards are face value. When you add the Baccarat cards together and get a number with two digits, discard the first digit to count your play score. For example, a Nine and a Three would add up to 12 points, so you’d drop the “1” for a score of 2.
How to Play Baccarat
Each casino hand of Baccarat starts when you place your online play bet – and when you play Baccarat, online or live, you can bet on either the Player’s or the Banker’s hand, or you can real money bet on a Tie occurring. Once your play bet is in place, the Player and Banker will each receive two Baccarat cards from an online six-deck shoe, face-up. If either play hand is worth eight or nine points (also known as a natural), that hand is an automatic real money winner, provided the other guy doesn’t have a higher natural. Then it’s on to the next hand. Easy-peasy.
Basic Baccarat Rules
Okay, there are a few more things you need to learn when you play Baccarat online at Ignition Casino. If neither the Player nor the Banker starts off with a natural, then it’s time to consult the online tableau, which shows the predetermined Baccarat rules for whether or not a third card is drawn. The Player goes first. If their Baccarat hand is worth between zero and five points, they automatically draw one more card; otherwise, they stand.
Then it’s the online Banker’s turn. If the online Player didn’t draw a third card, then the casino Banker will follow the same rules and either draw when they have 0-5 points, or stand with 6-7 points. If the Player did draw a third card, the Banker performs the following casino actions, depending on their play score:
7: Stand
6: Draw if the Player’s third card is 6-7
5: Draw if the Player’s third card is 4-7
4: Draw if the Player’s third card is 2-7
3: Draw if the Player’s third card is 0-7 or 9
0-2: Draw
Once the required online action has been made, that’s it – the two casino hands are compared and the winning real money bets are paid out as follows:
Player: 1/1
Banker: 1/1 minus a 5% commission
Tie: 9/1
Basic Baccarat Strategy
Because all of the online drawing decisions in Baccarat games are made for you automatically, there’s no optimal Baccarat strategy you can use to increase your chances of winning real money. But you can whittle down the casino house edge as far as possible by choosing which play bets to make. The casino Player bet has a 44.63% chance of success when using the six-deck shoe at Ignition, creating a small casino house edge of 1.24%. However, the game Banker bet wins a little more often at 45.87%, so despite the slightly lower payout, the house edge for this bet is even smaller at 1.06%.
How about that Tie bet? There’s a juicy real money payout waiting at 9/1, although the Tie bet will only win 9.51% of the time, leading to an online house edge of 4.85%. That’s still a reasonable number, though, comparable to American Roulette at 5.26% – and definitely better than the 14.44% you’d get when playing Baccarat at a live casino, where the Tie typically pays out at 8/1 instead of 9/1.
Knowing these online casino house edges will help you decide which play bets you should make when you’re at the Baccarat game tables. If you want the smallest edges possible, always play bet on the casino Banker. If you want some more variety from your Baccarat session, bet real money on the Banker about half the time, the Player a little less often, and make an occasional wager on the Tie.
Money Management in Baccarat
Because every play hand of Baccarat has a house edge attached, this online game should be played for entertainment purposes only – there’s no point in trying to become a professional online Baccarat player the same way you might with poker. Don’t fall for any Baccarat betting systems that promise to help you beat the game by changing your bet size from hand to hand. These systems all rely on the Gambler’s Fallacy: the idea that you’re more likely to win after a series of losses, or lose after a series of wins. Even if the Banker wins 100 hands in a row, their chances of winning Hand No. 101 are still 45.87%.
Instead of changing players' online play bet size, consider making the same bet for every play hand of Baccarat one can play at Ignition. The size should be appropriate for both the online players' bankroll and the length of session one would like to play. With a little math, players can figure out how many Baccarat hands per hour one can play on average, then take the above house edges, and choose the best size for players' desired bets and session length. As always, never play with money one can’t afford to lose, and don’t play when one is not having fun.
That’s all online players need to know to get started playing online Baccarat right now at Ignition Casino. You can consult the FAQ and Help online guides to learn more about Baccarat games, and you can use the Practice Play mode at Ignition to get your feet wet. Even James Bond didn’t have all that in his arsenal.