Baccarat Rules
Baccarat rules including the full third-card table the dealer follows, the exact odds on banker, player and tie, and why the game has no strategy beyond one sentence.
Baccarat has three bets, no decisions, and one of the smallest house edges in the casino. The apparent complexity — the drawing rules, the ritual, the scorecards — is all executed by the dealer or is decorative.
Card values
| Card | Value |
|---|---|
| Ace | 1 |
| 2 through 9 | Face value |
| 10, Jack, Queen, King | 0 |
Hand totals are taken modulo 10 — only the last digit counts. A 7 and an 8 total 15, which is a 5. A 9 and a king total 9. The best possible hand is 9; there is no bust.
The deal
Two hands are dealt: Player and Banker. These are labels for the two hands, not for you and the house. You may bet on either, or on a tie, and the labels have no relationship to who is dealt what.
- All bets are placed.
- Two cards go to Player, two to Banker.
- If either hand totals 8 or 9 — a natural — both hands stand and the round is over.
- Otherwise, the drawing rules below are applied.
- The higher total wins. Equal totals are a tie.
The third-card rules
The dealer applies these mechanically. There is no choice for anyone.
Player hand first:
| Player total | Action |
|---|---|
| 0–5 | Draws a third card |
| 6–7 | Stands |
| 8–9 | Natural, stands — round over |
Banker hand, if the Player stood on 6 or 7:
| Banker total | Action |
|---|---|
| 0–5 | Draws |
| 6–7 | Stands |
Banker hand, if the Player drew a third card — the banker’s action depends on the value of the card the Player drew:
| Banker total | Draws when Player’s third card is | Stands when it is |
|---|---|---|
| 0, 1, 2 | Always draws | — |
| 3 | 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9 | 8 |
| 4 | 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 | 0, 1, 8, 9 |
| 5 | 4, 5, 6, 7 | 0, 1, 2, 3, 8, 9 |
| 6 | 6, 7 | 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9 |
| 7 | — | Always stands |
The asymmetry is the whole game. The Banker acts after the Player and with knowledge of what the Player drew, which is why the Banker hand wins more often, and why it carries a commission.
The odds
Eight-deck shoe, the standard game:
| Outcome | Probability |
|---|---|
| Banker wins | 45.86% |
| Player wins | 44.62% |
| Tie | 9.52% |
Excluding ties, Banker wins 50.68% of decided hands.
| Bet | Pays | House edge |
|---|---|---|
| Banker | 1:1 less 5% commission | 1.06% |
| Player | 1:1 | 1.24% |
| Tie | 8:1 | 14.36% |
| Tie | 9:1 (rare) | 4.84% |
The banker calculation
EV = (0.4586 × 0.95) + (0.0952 × 0) + (0.4462 × −1) = 0.43567 − 0.44625 = −0.01058 → 1.06%
Ties push, which is why they appear with a zero payoff rather than as losses.
Note what the commission is doing. Without it, the banker bet would return 0.4586 − 0.4462 = +1.24% to the player. The 5% is not a fee for the privilege of a good bet; it is the mechanism that makes an otherwise player-favourable bet profitable for the house — and it slightly overshoots, leaving 1.06% rather than zero.
Side bets
Every commonly offered baccarat side bet is significantly worse than the main game. Typical figures:
| Side bet | Typical house edge |
|---|---|
| Player Pair / Banker Pair | 10.36% |
| Perfect Pair | 17.07% |
| Either Pair | 14.54% |
| Dragon Bonus (player) | 2.65% |
| Dragon Bonus (banker) | 9.37% |
| Big / Small | 4.35% / 5.27% |
Pay tables vary between casinos; the ordering does not.
Strategy
Bet banker. Every hand. Ignore the scorecard. Never bet tie.
That is the complete optimal strategy for baccarat, and it is why the game is popular with players who want low cost and no cognitive load. The 0.18% you give up by betting player instead is small; the 13.3% you give up by betting tie is not.
Why the scorecards do not help
Baccarat tables supply printed grids — the big road, the bead plate, the big eye boy — for recording past results, and players track them intently. The shoe is shuffled, the cards are dealt, and each hand is independent of every hand before it. A run of nine bankers tells you exactly nothing about the tenth hand.
Card counting in baccarat is theoretically possible and practically worthless. The most favourable counts shift the edge by hundredths of a percent, arise rarely, and would require tracking the entire shoe for a return smaller than the cost of the time.
Punto banco, mini-baccarat, and the rest
- Punto Banco — the standard casino game described above. The house banks every hand.
- Mini-baccarat — identical rules, smaller table, faster pace, lower minimum. The rules are the same; the speed is not, and speed multiplies your hourly cost.
- Chemin de fer — players take turns banking. Rare outside France.
- EZ Baccarat — no commission; instead a banker win with a three-card 7 pushes. House edge on banker is 1.02%, marginally better than the standard game.
Cost comparison: house edge across every game.