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Being the simplest casino card game, baccarat does not provide for any complex strategies. Since the player has only 3 bet options, playing baccarat is like guessing the outcome of a coin toss (heads or tails).
Baccarat Peculiarities
The goal of a baccarat player is to guess which game participant will receive the most expensive hand. Each card in this game is assigned a specific cost as follows:
A: 1 point
Cards with a value from 2 to 9: number of points at face value
10, J, Q, K: 0 points
The player’s task before starting the game is to make a bet on a dealer’s win, a player’s win or a tie. Payments at the rates are as follows:
Bet on a player’s win: 1 to 1
Bet on a dealer’s win: 19 to 20 (in case of such bet, a commission of 5% of its amount is deducted)
Bet on a tie: 8 to 1
The classic version of the game uses 8 card decks; however, the versions of baccarat with a single deck are especially popular in modern online casinos. For this kind of game, mathematical probability of one of three outcomes (dealer/player win or a tie) will be as follows:
Bet variant
Probability, %
Bet on a dealer
45.9624
Bet on a player
44.676
Bet on a tie
9.3616
Game Strategy
In accordance with the above table of mathematical probabilities, the most logical strategy for baccarat is betting on a dealer; the likelihood of such outcome in each game is slightly higher. The casino’s advantage is as follows: a dealer’s winning bet is 1.01%, a player’s winning bet is 1.29% and a tie bet is 15.75%.
However, in practice, such strategy is not always justified, since some casinos charge a commission for 5% of the bet amount from players who bet on a more favourable outcome (i.e. a dealer’s win). Accordingly, the only mathematically sound game strategy that will provide the user with a profit in a long-term gaming session is a bet on a player’s win.
This betting tactic can be combined with any universal strategies developed for betting on equal chances (for example, in roulette). The well-known Martingale system, which assumes doubling of the bet amount in case of each loss according to the sequence 1-2-4-8-16-32..., is quite effective for playing baccarat.
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