JeffBet by Matthew Gover |
Date of Publishing: 9 June 2022

5/5 - (1 vote)

Baccarat Strategy

French nobility began playing this game of chance in the 1800s. These days, people from all walks of life enjoy this form of entertainment. Baccarat experienced a new lease of life after appearing in the opening scene of 1962’s first James Bond movie, Dr No.

20th Century Bond favours ‘chemin-de-fer’, also referred to as ‘shimmy’, or ‘chemmy’. The other two popular variants are ‘punto banco’ (North American), and ‘baccarat banque’. All offer Baccarat players a reasonably low house-advantage and are simple to master.

Here at JeffBet, we think that although this is a simple game of chance, there are advantages to having a strategy.

Let’s start with the basics of playing baccarat for any newbies and then offer some top tips on playing this popular table game.

Table of Contents

Basics of Playing Baccarat

As is the case with many table card games, the winning hand is the one that holds the highest value. In this case, you are aiming for 9, or as close as possible. If your cards total 8 or 9 this is known as a ‘natural’.

Let’s look at the fundamentals of playing baccarat, starting with the three possible bets you can place:

Banker: You believe the banker’s hand will be closest to 9 – the payout is 95% of your bet

Player: You think your hand will be nearest to 9 – the payout twice your bet

Tie: You think yours and the dealer’s hand will be equal – payout, 8 to 1

As is clear – there are only 3 outcomes from this game and if you place the correct bet, you win the game. Calculated based on a game with 8 decks of cards, the house edge is 1.06% for the banker’s hand, 1.24% for the player’s hand and you can expect 14.36% on a tie.

The latter offers a bigger payout, but as you can see – you are far less likely to win. It’s also important to be aware of what the cards represent in terms of points.

See below the card values used in baccarat:

King, Queen, Jack and 10 are valued at 0
Ace is valued at 1 point
Cards 2 through to 10 are valued by their number. For instance, a 6 of hearts will be 6 points, whereas a 3 of diamonds represents 3 points.

If you are dealt 2 cards with a value of 8 or 9 – you win. If the dealer lands a natural – you lose.

Best Baccarat Strategies – Top 5 Tips

We have included below the top 5 tips used to try to get the upper hand when playing Baccarat.

Test drive baccarat without risk, and free of charge with a demo version of the game
It’s best not to include tie rounds in any wins and losses.
If you are looking to win more often – remember that the banker’s hand has a 45.86% probability of winning. Whereas for the player this is 44.62%.
Consider a strategy such as the baccarat 1324 system.
Practice bankroll management by only placing small stakes and sticking within a budget.

Another top tip is to check the RTP (Return to Player) – you will probably find that a banker bet has an RTP of around 98.94%. For those unaware, this means that for every £1,000 you bet on the banker – you will theoretically get £989.4 back (based on millions of plays). The player hand meanwhile has an average RTP of 98.76%, whilst a tie wager is only 85.64%.

Low-Risk Baccarat Strategies

Whilst the ‘Martingale Strategy’ is not the first system we thought of in terms of low-risk – it is worth a mention. This entails doubling losing bets as you go along.

For instance:

You might start with a £2 bet. If you lose – in order to follow this system you need to bet £4 on the next round.
If you lose again – bet £8, then £16 – and so on.
If you win, you need to go back to the start – doubling your wager each time you lose.

On the opposite end of the scale is the ‘Paroli Strategy’. This consists of doubling up on a winning hand and is based on 3 consecutive wins before starting again.

For instance:

Let’s imagine you are betting £5 on the banker’s hand and win – your next bet will be valued at £10.
If you win a third time – you wager £20 and hopefully win before starting all over again.
Crucially, you will only double your bet if you win
If you don’t – start again with the initial stake of £5 (or whatever unit you wish to use)

Both of the aforementioned baccarat strategies are easy to implement when playing Mini baccarat. This is like traditional baccarat’s younger sibling and will see you placing small bets each time.

We are talking as low as 20p per wager! The best part is the rules are exactly the same, so you don’t need to spend time learning a new game.

Next we talk about the baccarat 1234 system, which is one of the easiest to add to your plan moving forward.

Baccarat 1324 System

This baccarat strategy is one of the simplest to master and incorporate, even for beginners. This will see you placing bets in currency units – such as £10, £100, £1,000 and so on

For instance:

Let’s say you bet £10 and win – you would then stake £20 on the next bet
If you win again – place a £30 bet – and then £40 on the next loss
If you win 4 times in a row you will have made a profit of 10 units – so in this case £100
If you lose at any stage – you go back to the beginning and start again

Even if you only win 2 games in a row, you are still going to make 2 units in profit, due to your winnings in bet 2. If you were to use this in conjunction with mini baccarat, you could implement this rule using smaller bets like £1, followed by £2, £3, and £4 whilst you learn the ropes.

FAQ’s

How do I consistently win at baccarat?

There is no sure-fire way to win consistently at any table game. However, you can try sticking to a daily casino budget, practice the 1324 system, and play with small bets looking for frequent and modest wins.

Is there any skill to Baccarat?

Baccarat is a game of chance, and each session is as random as the last. People still like to strategize in this game. This might include counting cards, avoiding tie bets or adopting the 1324 system. One of the best low risk strategies is to play mini baccarat, with bets as low as 20p.

How do you cheat on baccarat?

There are supposed cheats for baccarat, but in truth, all games start with a new deck of cards. As such, card counting to monitor the card's points value will be a waste of energy. This is particularly the case when playing online, where all games are installed with RNGs and rigorously tested by third-party testing houses for fairness.

Why is Baccarat dangerous?

Baccarat is considered to be on the dangerous side - for casinos. This is because you are able to place large bets and the house edge is super low. As such, there is potential to win big if you have a large bankroll.

Can baccarat be beaten?

Whilst you can beat baccarat in the short-term, the banker will always have the mathematical advantage. This is why we have such a thing as a ‘winning streak’.

About the Author

Author: Matthew Gover.

After graduating, Matthew began working as an English teacher abroad, initially in Spain and then Vietnam before finally coming back to the UK to settle. Matthew has always had a love for writing and an even bigger love for the igaming industry... Read More

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