Learn how to play Baccarat from Mr. Bitty in this unique guide. Although Baccarat may look like a complex card game, it is one of the most accessible table games to learn, which you’ll find in this guide.
Once you’ve read through Mr Bitty’s how-to-play Baccarat guide, head over to the mBitcasino Baccarat table games section. Here, you will find a mix of virtual and live baccarat tables.
Why practice baccarat on virtual tables and not live dealer tables?
- Virtual Baccarat: You can play using a demo mode: play money. If you have never bet on baccarat, you can get a feel for the game without risking your crypto balance. You can fool around before formulating a serious approach to the game. Also, virtual baccarat tables have no time limits between each round so that you can take your time!
- Live Casino Baccarat: On all live dealer games, there is a time limit between each betting round. If you are new to the game, playing under time limits doesn’t give you time to create a betting strategy due to the time constraints putting you under pressure. If you do want to experience the live up close and personal look and feel of baccarat, you can always open one of the live dealer baccarat games
Tip: One of the best virtual baccarat tables giving you a virtual casino game experience that mimics a live dealer environment is Evolution Gaming’s First-Person Baccarat.
Baccarat Rules
Baccarat (pronounced bah-kuh-rah) is a simple card game played between two hands, the player and the banker. The goal is to get a hand value as close to 9 as possible. There is also a third option, which is the ‘Tie’ bet.
Baccarat Bet Types and Payouts
There are 3 betting options available in the main game of Baccarat to choose from:
- Player Bet (Pays 1:1)
- Baker Bet (Pays 1:1)
- Tie Win (Pays 9:1)
How to Play Baccarat
Unlike games such as Blackjack, Baccarat is a bet-and-go game. In other words, you choose your bet and let the dealer do the rest. You have no control over the outcome, as the game is purely based on chance.
Here’s precisely how to play Baccarat (it’s straightforward):
- Place your bets on either the ‘Banker’, ‘Player’, ‘Player + Tie’ or ‘Banker + Tie’.
- The dealer will deliver two face-up cards to the ‘Player’ hand and two to the ‘Banker’ hand.
- The hand closest to 9 wins.
- If a ‘Tie’ exists, all ‘Banker’ and ‘Player’ bets lose, and any bets on the ‘Tie’ win.
- In some cases, the ‘Banker’ or ‘Player’ hand will require a 3rd card to settle the hand, which Mr Bitty explains in more detail below.
The simplicity of Baccarat: Games like Blackjack come with basic strategy charts to help you make the right decision. I.e., ‘Hit’, ‘Stand’, ‘Split’, Double’, ‘Split’, ‘Surrender’, or ‘Take Insurance’. None of this exists while playing Baccarat, so the game is initially so simple to master.
Baccarat Points System
Each card has a set value, but certain combinations will cancel each other out to reach a total as close to 9 as possible using a system that adds and subtracts hand totals from each combination.
Here’s how it works:
- Face cards and tens count as 0, aces as 1, and all other cards count as their face value. Therefore, a 2 card = 2 points, a 3 card = 3 points, a 4 card = 4 points and so on.
- If the combination of these cards exceeds 9, only the second digit is counted.
Examples of how Baccarat hand totals are calculated:
- 5 and 8 = 13 (Hand total is 3).
- 4 and 7 = 11 (Hand total is 1).
- 10 and 9 = 19 (Hand total is 9).
Banker Commission
Another caveat to the game of Baccarat is that the ‘Banker’ hand is subject to a 5% commission if it wins. Therefore, if you bet on the ‘Banker’ hand and win, your odds are, in fact, 0.95:1. However, this rule does not apply if you play No Commission Baccarat variants.
Side Bets
Each software provider decides which side bets to add to their variant of Baccarat. A word of warning, though. Although side bets are and can be fun, their high house edge is usually heavily weighted in favor of the house when compared to the house edge of the player in the 3 main Baccarat bets.
Baccarat Third Card Rules
You will often see Baccarat stop once 2 cards have been dealt to the ‘Banker’ and ‘Player’. However, sometimes, a third card is needed to settle a hand. You have no control over this, as the dealers are responsible for producing the third card according to specific rules. Therefore, you can sit back and relax or bite your lip, depending on what type of player you are!
When is a third card required for the ‘Player’ hand?
- ‘Player’ hand equals 5 or less.
- The ‘Player’ hand equals 6 or 7, and it stands.
When is a third card required for the ‘Banker’ hand?
- The ‘Banker’ hand equals 7, so it stands.
- The ‘Banker’ hand equals 0-2 and hits without considering the player’s third card.
- The ‘Banker’ hand equals 3-6, and the drawing depends on the ‘Player’ hand’s third card.
- ‘Banker’ hits if the ‘Player’ hand’s third card was 0-5.
- ‘Banker’ hits if the ‘Player’ hand stands and ‘Banker’ has 5 or less.
- ‘Banker’ stands if the ‘Player’ hand’s third card was 6 or 7.
In short, the third card rules depend on each hand’s initial two card values. The player has a more straightforward drawing strategy than the banker.
Learning Baccarat Strategy
Although Baccarat is much less complex in decision-making than games like Blackjack and Poker, the game comes with intricate betting strategies. Many players use ‘Road Maps’, ‘Patterns’, and ‘Hot/Cold’ hand totals to predict the game’s flow.
You can read more about this in the Mr Bitty’s ‘5 Strategies for Baccarat’ guide.
mBitcasino Baccarat Tables with the Highest Theoretical RTP
In land-based casinos, the casino calls this the house edge. The lower the house edge, the higher the odds tilt in the player’s favour. In online crypto casinos, we call this ‘Return to Play’ – RTP.
Here are the 5 highest RTP virtual Baccarat games at mBitcasino:
- Baccarat by BetSoft – 98.99%
- Baccarat Pro by Platipus – 98.94%
- Baccarat by Mascot – 98.9%
- Baccarat Zero Commission by Habanero – 98.85%
- Baccarat Mini by Platipus – 98.76%
Remember, start slowly. The old saying goes, learn to walk before you run. Start practicing on virtual demo mode tables before heading to live casino baccarat tables, where you’ll get an authentic land-based gaming experience streamed via mBitcasino to your mobile, tablet, or desktop device!
