Thanks to smaller tables (a.k.a. mini-baccarat) and lower betting limits, baccarat has experienced a popularity surge in recent years.
Another reason why many people prefer baccarat games is due to the house edge of only 1.06 percent when you wager on the banker’s hand. This makes this game one of the best bets in the casino.
But as low as the house advantage is, you can still face a long-term losing proposition. And that is why some baccarat continues to look for various ways or strategies to dramatically improve their odds of winning.
The Basics of Baccarat: How to Play
Baccarat is one of the most popular casino games which can be played both online like online casino Malaysia and land-based casino. But before we head to the best strategies on how to beat the baccarat game, let us understand how it is played in the first place.
In Baccarat’s regular game, the dealer uses 6 to 8 decks of cards which are shuffled together and placed on a dealing machine called ‘shoe’. The game starts with two hands being dealt on the shoe:
- The Player’s Hand or Hand A
- The Banker’s Hand or Hand B
You are not bounded to playing the Player’s hand and you do not always win when the Player wins. Once the dealer places two cards on each part of the table, it is time to calculate the points and figure out the value of each hand.
The croupier then deals out the cards face up—two each for the banker and player—and whichever hand totals closest to 9 wins. If you have bet on the player hand and it has the closest to 9, the winnings are simply double what you bet.
If you have bet on the banker’s hand, on the other hand, and it wins, it pays 95% of your wager. When the cards dealt are more than 9, you have to add the two together and drop the one (or two) to get the value.
For instance, a hand of 9 and 7 cards dealt would add up to 16, and with the first digit dropped, the value in the game is 6.
Here are a few more rules to help you ace a baccarat game, according to Caesars Rewards:
- The player will receive another card if the player’s total is 5 or less. Otherwise, the player will stand.
- The banker hits on a total of 5 or less if the player stands.
- Both the banker and player stand if either the banker or player is dealt a total of 8 or 9.
- A tie, which is the final betting option, pays out 8-to-1. Conveniently, there are sheets at the table for you to keep track of your score as well. Although a tie bet has the biggest payout, experts advise avoiding this as it has the worst odds of winning which may drain your wallet in the end.
3 Effective Strategies to Win Baccarat Game
The Martingale Baccarat Strategy
The Martingale strategy is one of the simplest gambling strategies and a negative progression when playing Baccarat. All you need to do is to repeat your bet after a win and double it after a loss. Its steps are fairly easy to follow.
- Place a bet. For instance, $5 on the Banker.
- If the Banker won, just simply repeat the bet. But if the banker lost, double your next bet to $10.
- If you lose the $10, double the next wager to $20. If you win, you need to repeat the $10 bet for the next hand.
See the list below to know how this system works:
- You bet $5 and lose (bankroll at -5)
- You bet $20 and win (bankroll at +5)
- You bet $10 and lose (bankroll at -15)
- You bet $10 and win (bankroll at +10)
- You bet $5 and lose (bankroll at 0)
- You bet $5 and win (bankroll at +15)
You lost three hands and won three hands in the example above. This is a common occurrence in baccarat games since it’s almost a 50/50 proposition with the casino.
The Martingale can be a winning strategy, but it has some upsides and downsides too. If you accumulate against a streak of losses, your bets could get quite high, and you could quickly use up your money.
Multiple well-placed bets, on the contrary, could net you a significant stack of chips. The Martingale strategy is great when you are willing to place high bets after a few losses, so it is only recommended mainly for high rollers.
The Paroli Baccarat Strategy
The Paroli Baccarat Strategy is a positive progression baccarat strategy. When you play using this trick, you set an initial bet amount.
Some Paroli players decide to double bets only after a certain number of wins (say three to five), but others double on the spot after each win. Here are the two simple steps for this baccarat strategy:
- Place your initial bet (say, $5 on the Player).
- If you win, double the next bet to $10. But at a loss, you’d stick to $5 for your next wager.
Continue this pattern as long as you want to play. Here’s how Paroli works in practice:
- You bet $5 on Player and loss (bankroll at -5)
- You bet $5 on Banker and win (bankroll at +10)
- You bet $10 on Player and win (bankroll at +20)
This baccarat strategy offers a relatively low risk of big losses. However, its shortcoming is that wins are quite small unless you find yourself on a hot streak. Hence it’s a good baccarat betting system for risk-averse players or newcomers.
The Fibonacci Baccarat Strategy
The Fibonacci strategy is based on the famous Fibonacci sequence from mathematics. The Fibonacci sequence adds each of the two previous numbers to acquire the next one in the pattern. In betting, it begins with ones and carries on like so: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89…and can go on endlessly.
When using the Fibonacci baccarat betting strategy, it helps to think of your initial bet as a “unit”. For instance, a $5 bet could be considered a unit. When you apply this technique, you move up to the next number in the sequence after each loss. When you win, however, you move back two numbers. It sounds complicated but it is easier to understand in practice:
- Bet 1 unit (say $5)
- If your wager loses, bet $5 again. Take note, “1” repeats in the sequence.
- Bet $10 (2 units) if your bet loses again.
- Bet $15 (3 units) after another loss.
- If that $15 wager wins, however, move back two steps in the sequence, and bet $5 once again.
Here’s another example, this time using $1 as a unit. For the sake of this illustration, assume you have lost five hands already, and you are now wagering $8.
- You bet $8 on Player and loss (bankroll at -8)
- You bet $13 on Banker and win (bankroll at +26)
- You bet $5 on Player and win (bankroll at +10)
The Fibonacci baccarat strategy can be one of the most fun gambling strategies because you are consistently modifying your bet based on the outcome. After a win, you withdraw a bit and place a more cautious bet, moving back up the sequence to recoup any losses.
As a negative progression system, it is more suited to players who are willing to take risks. If you have a limited budget, it may be best to opt for alternatives such as Paroli to make your money last.
Conclusion
When you key in ‘how to win baccarat for sure’ into a search engine and are bamboozled with numbers systems, endless tables, and complex looking equations, bear in mind it is all smoke and mirrors made to lighten your wallet and get you to purchase the system. There are no magical fixes when playing baccarat.
The effective strategy for baccarat is just the same as winning any other casino game. Playing using the three tricks laid out above will help you come out on top more than any other system you could pay for, and they’re guaranteed to be free.