On This Page
Introduction
Rules for the banker hand: If the banker's first two cards total 7 or more, then the banker must stand without drawing a card. If the banker's first two cards total 0, 1, or 2, then the banker must draw one card. While Punto Banco is essentially an even money game, and losing bets are refunded in the event of a draw, there is still a house edge due to the drawing rules. Bank bets have a house edge of 1.17%.
Baccarat, also known as punto banco, is one of the oldest and most popular games in casinos all over the world. It is especially popular among high-rollers and Asian gamblers. In Macau, baccarat is extremely dominant. Although the game seems serious and elegant, it is really as simple as betting on the flip of a coin.
Baccarat Basics - How to Play with Wizard's Free Demo
Format
There are three types of baccarat tables:
Big Table Baccarat is played in a snooty roped off area to separate itself from the other games. The players are usually very well dressed and the table minimums are often high. The regular baccarat table is about the size of a craps table with 3 casino dealers and up to 12 or 14 players. Each player, including the player dealing, may still bet on either the player or the banker but it is customary for the dealer to bet on the banker.
The deal will rotate around the table, much like the dice rotate around the craps table. If a player does not want to deal they may pass the shoe to the next player. The same person will keep dealing as long as the banker keeps winning. The person dealing will put two cards, face down, tucked under the shoe, and give the player with the greatest bet on the player the other two cards, face down. This player then looks at the cards and then gives them back to the player who is dealing. Then the player who is dealing will turn over the cards and one of the casino dealers will announce the totals. Depending on the totals, the dealer may then instruct the person dealing the cards to deal a third card. Finally the dealers will pay winning wagers and collect losing ones out of the dealer's tray. The player who actually deals is not assuming any financial responsibility of the other players bets, unlike pai gow, and is just turning over cards.
Mini baccarat has the same rules are big table baccarat. However, unlike the game at the big table, the dealer turns over all the cards, making for a much faster game. The odds are exactly the same as those of the big table, assuming the same number of decks. Mini baccarat is sometimes dealt from a six-deck shoe, changing the odds slightly. It can usually be found in the main casino areas.
Midi baccarat is the same as mini baccarat, except the size of the table is larger, and it is usually found in the high-limit rooms, as opposed to the main casino floor.
Rules
Following are the rules of baccarat. The terminology can be a little confusing. To try to minimize this, when referring to a particular bet or hand, I will use capital letters. In particular Player and Banker refer to bets as well as particular sets of two or three cards each.
- Usually eight decks of cards are used.
- Cards are given point values as follows: Ace = 1, 2-9 = pip value, 10 and face cards = 0.
- Play begins by all players betting either on the Player or Banker. There is also a side bet on a Tie. At some tables there are also side bets on a Player Pair and/or Banker Pair. There are lots of other newer side bets, which I go into in my baccarat appendix 5.
- After all bets are down, the dealer gives two cards each to the Player and Banker hands.
- The maximum number of points in both the Player and Banker hands is 9. The way to arrive at the points per hand is to take the total points of each individual card in the hand. If the sum is more than 9, then drop the first digit. For example, if either hand had a 9 and 7, then you would drop the 1 from the total of 16, for a 6-point hand.
- A third card may or may not be dealt to either the Player or Banker hands, depending on the following rules.
- If either the Player or Banker have 8 or 9 points, it is referred to as a 'natural.' If there is at least one natural, then both hands will stand.
- Otherwise, if the Player's total is 5 or less, then the Player hand will draw one more card, otherwise, with 6 or 7 points, the Player hand stands.
- If the Player hand stands with 6 or 7 points, then the Banker hand will draw a third card on a total of 5 or less. Otherwise, with 6 or 7 points, the Banker will stand.
- If the Player does draw a third card, then use the Banker will use his positional advantage to decide whether to take a third card according to his total and the third card drawn to the Player, according to the following table. D = Draw third card
Banker Drawing Rules
Banker's
ScorePlayer's Third Card 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 7 S S S S S S S S S S 6 S S S S S S D D S S 5 S S S S D D D D S S 4 S S D D D D D D S S 3 D D D D D D D D S D 2 D D D D D D D D D D 1 D D D D D D D D D D 0 D D D D D D D D D D
S = Stand on two cards - The score of the Player and Banker hands are compared; the winner is the one that is greater. In an event of a tie, the Player and Banker bets push.
- The Tie bet wins if the Player and Banker hands tie. All other outcomes lose.
- The Player Pair bet wins if the first two cards in the Player hand are of the same rank. All other outcomes lose.
- The Banker Pair bet wins if the first two cards in the Banker hand are of the same rank. All other outcomes lose.
- Following is how to pay each bet:
- Player: Wins pay even money.
- Banker: Wins pay 19 to 20, which is equivalent to even money less a 5% commission.
- Tie: Almost all casinos pay 8 to 1 on a tie, which is often expressed as the equivalent to 9 for 1.
- Player Pair and Banker pairs: Wins pay 10 to 1.
The reason the Banker gets paid less than the Player is the Banker enjoys a positional advantage, with more information available to make the decision on drawing a third card.
Following are some rules on dealing procedures. The beginner can skip this part.
- At the start of a new shoe, the dealer will turn over one card. This will determine how many cards the dealer will burn, according to the baccarat value, except a 10 or face card will result in 10 cards burned.
- The cut card will be placed 16 cards from the bottom of the shoe. When the cut card appears, the dealer will finish that hand, play one more hand, and then start a new shoe. If the cut card comes out instead of the first card, the dealer will finish that hand, and then start a new shoe.
- To speed up the game, the dealer will keep track of commissions owed on winning Banker bets using small laminated markers. He will collect all commissions owed at the end of the shoe.
Eight-Deck Analysis
Casino landing page. The following return tables show the possible outcomes of the Player, Banker, and Tie bets for an 8-deck game. As the lower right cells in each table show, the house edge is 1.06% on the banker bet, 1.24% on the player bet, and 14.36% on the tie.
Banker Bet — 8 Decks
Punto Card Game
Event | Pays | Combinations | Probability | Return |
---|---|---|---|---|
Banker wins | 0.95 | 2,292,252,566,437,888 | 0.458597 | 0.435668 |
Player wins | -1 | 2,230,518,282,592,256 | 0.446247 | -0.446247 |
Tie | 0 | 475,627,426,473,216 | 0.095156 | 0 |
Total | 4,998,398,275,503,360 | 1 | -0.010579 |
Player Bet — 8 Decks
Event | Pays | Combinations | Probability | Return |
---|---|---|---|---|
Banker wins | -1 | 2,292,252,566,437,888 | 0.458597 | -0.458597 |
Player wins | 1 | 2,230,518,282,592,256 | 0.446247 | 0.446247 |
Tie | 0 | 475,627,426,473,216 | 0.095156 | 0 |
Total | 4,998,398,275,503,360 | 1 | -0.012351 |
Tie Bet — 8 Decks
Event | Pays | Combinations | Probability | Return |
---|---|---|---|---|
Banker wins | -1 | 2,292,252,566,437,888 | 0.458597 | -0.458597 |
Player wins | -1 | 2,230,518,282,592,256 | 0.446247 | -0.446247 |
Tie | 8 | 475,627,426,473,216 | 0.095156 | 0.761248 |
Total | 4,998,398,275,503,360 | 1 | -0.143596 |
Pair Bets — 8 Decks
Event | Pays | Combinations | Probability | Return |
---|---|---|---|---|
Pair | 11 | 6448 | 0.074699 | 0.821687 |
No pair | -1 | 79872 | 0.925301 | -0.925301 |
Total | 86320 | 1 | -0.103614 |
Six-Deck Analysis
The following return tables show the possible outcomes of the Player, Banker, and Tie bets for a 6-deck game. As the lower right cells in each table show, the house edge is 1.06% on the Banker bet, 1.24% on the Player bet, and 14.44% on the Tie.
Banker Bet — 6 Decks
Event | Pays | Combinations | Probability | Return |
---|---|---|---|---|
Banker wins | 0.95 | 403095751234560 | 0.458653 | 0.43572 |
Player wins | -1 | 392220492728832 | 0.446279 | -0.446279 |
Tie | 0 | 83552962932288 | 0.095069 | 0 |
Total | 878869206895680 | 1 | -0.010558 |
Player Bet — 6 Decks
Event | Pays | Combinations | Probability | Return |
---|---|---|---|---|
Banker wins | -1 | 403095751234560 | 0.458653 | -0.458653 |
Player wins | 1 | 392220492728832 | 0.446279 | 0.446279 |
Tie | 0 | 83552962932288 | 0.095069 | 0 |
Total | 878869206895680 | 1 | -0.012374 |
Tie Bet — 6 Decks
Event | Pays | Combinations | Probability | Return |
---|---|---|---|---|
Banker wins | -1 | 403095751234560 | 0.458653 | -0.458653 |
Player wins | -1 | 392220492728832 | 0.446279 | -0.446279 |
Tie | 8 | 83552962932288 | 0.095069 | 0.76055 |
Total | 878869206895680 | 1 | -0.144382 |
Pair Bets — 6 Decks
Event | Pays | Combinations | Probability | Return |
---|---|---|---|---|
Pair | 11 | 3588 | 0.073955 | 0.813505 |
No pair | -1 | 44928 | 0.926045 | -0.926045 |
Total | 48516 | 1 | -0.11254 |
One-Deck Analysis
The following return tables show the possible outcomes of the Player, Banker, and Tie bets for a single deck game. As the lower right cells in each table show, the house edge is 1.01% on the Banker bet, 1.29% on the Player bet, and 15.75% on the Tie.
Banker Bet — 1 Deck
Event | Pays | Combinations | Probability | Return |
---|---|---|---|---|
Banker wins | 0.95 | 6737232640 | 0.459624 | 0.436643 |
Player wins | -1 | 6548674432 | 0.44676 | -0.44676 |
Tie | 0 | 1372227328 | 0.093615 | 0 |
Total | 14658134400 | 1 | -0.010117 |
Player Bet — 1 Deck
Event | Pays | Combinations | Probability | Return |
---|---|---|---|---|
Banker wins | -1 | 6737232640 | 0.459624 | -0.459624 |
Player wins | 1 | 6548674432 | 0.44676 | 0.44676 |
Tie | 0 | 1372227328 | 0.093615 | 0 |
Total | 14658134400 | 1 | -0.012864 |
Tie Bet — 1 Deck
Event | Pays | Combinations | Probability | Return |
---|---|---|---|---|
Banker wins | -1 | 6737232640 | 0.459624 | -0.459624 |
Player wins | -1 | 6548674432 | 0.44676 | -0.44676 |
Tie | 8 | 1372227328 | 0.093615 | 0.748923 |
Total | 14658134400 | 1 | -0.157461 |
Pair Bets — 1 Deck
Event | Pays | Combinations | Probability | Return |
---|---|---|---|---|
Pair | 11 | 78 | 0.058824 | 0.647059 |
No pair | -1 | 1248 | 0.941176 | -0.941176 |
Total | 1326 | 1 | -0.294118 |
Infinite Decks
Some Internet casinos claim to use an infinite number of decks in baccarat. The following four tables show the analysis of the Banker, Player, Tie, and Pair bets assuming an infinite deck shoe.
Banker — Infinite Decks
Event | Pays | Combinations | Probability | Return |
---|---|---|---|---|
Win | 0.95 | 2,212,744 | 0.458428 | 0.435507 |
Tie | 0 | 460,601 | 0.095426 | 0.000000 |
Loss | -1 | 2,153,464 | 0.446147 | -0.446147 |
Total | 4,826,809 | 1.000000 | -0.010640 |
- Usually eight decks of cards are used.
- Cards are given point values as follows: Ace = 1, 2-9 = pip value, 10 and face cards = 0.
- Play begins by all players betting either on the Player or Banker. There is also a side bet on a Tie. At some tables there are also side bets on a Player Pair and/or Banker Pair. There are lots of other newer side bets, which I go into in my baccarat appendix 5.
- After all bets are down, the dealer gives two cards each to the Player and Banker hands.
- The maximum number of points in both the Player and Banker hands is 9. The way to arrive at the points per hand is to take the total points of each individual card in the hand. If the sum is more than 9, then drop the first digit. For example, if either hand had a 9 and 7, then you would drop the 1 from the total of 16, for a 6-point hand.
- A third card may or may not be dealt to either the Player or Banker hands, depending on the following rules.
- If either the Player or Banker have 8 or 9 points, it is referred to as a 'natural.' If there is at least one natural, then both hands will stand.
- Otherwise, if the Player's total is 5 or less, then the Player hand will draw one more card, otherwise, with 6 or 7 points, the Player hand stands.
- If the Player hand stands with 6 or 7 points, then the Banker hand will draw a third card on a total of 5 or less. Otherwise, with 6 or 7 points, the Banker will stand.
- If the Player does draw a third card, then use the Banker will use his positional advantage to decide whether to take a third card according to his total and the third card drawn to the Player, according to the following table. D = Draw third card
Banker Drawing Rules
Banker's
ScorePlayer's Third Card 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 7 S S S S S S S S S S 6 S S S S S S D D S S 5 S S S S D D D D S S 4 S S D D D D D D S S 3 D D D D D D D D S D 2 D D D D D D D D D D 1 D D D D D D D D D D 0 D D D D D D D D D D
S = Stand on two cards - The score of the Player and Banker hands are compared; the winner is the one that is greater. In an event of a tie, the Player and Banker bets push.
- The Tie bet wins if the Player and Banker hands tie. All other outcomes lose.
- The Player Pair bet wins if the first two cards in the Player hand are of the same rank. All other outcomes lose.
- The Banker Pair bet wins if the first two cards in the Banker hand are of the same rank. All other outcomes lose.
- Following is how to pay each bet:
- Player: Wins pay even money.
- Banker: Wins pay 19 to 20, which is equivalent to even money less a 5% commission.
- Tie: Almost all casinos pay 8 to 1 on a tie, which is often expressed as the equivalent to 9 for 1.
- Player Pair and Banker pairs: Wins pay 10 to 1.
The reason the Banker gets paid less than the Player is the Banker enjoys a positional advantage, with more information available to make the decision on drawing a third card.
Following are some rules on dealing procedures. The beginner can skip this part.
- At the start of a new shoe, the dealer will turn over one card. This will determine how many cards the dealer will burn, according to the baccarat value, except a 10 or face card will result in 10 cards burned.
- The cut card will be placed 16 cards from the bottom of the shoe. When the cut card appears, the dealer will finish that hand, play one more hand, and then start a new shoe. If the cut card comes out instead of the first card, the dealer will finish that hand, and then start a new shoe.
- To speed up the game, the dealer will keep track of commissions owed on winning Banker bets using small laminated markers. He will collect all commissions owed at the end of the shoe.
Eight-Deck Analysis
Casino landing page. The following return tables show the possible outcomes of the Player, Banker, and Tie bets for an 8-deck game. As the lower right cells in each table show, the house edge is 1.06% on the banker bet, 1.24% on the player bet, and 14.36% on the tie.
Banker Bet — 8 Decks
Punto Card Game
Event | Pays | Combinations | Probability | Return |
---|---|---|---|---|
Banker wins | 0.95 | 2,292,252,566,437,888 | 0.458597 | 0.435668 |
Player wins | -1 | 2,230,518,282,592,256 | 0.446247 | -0.446247 |
Tie | 0 | 475,627,426,473,216 | 0.095156 | 0 |
Total | 4,998,398,275,503,360 | 1 | -0.010579 |
Player Bet — 8 Decks
Event | Pays | Combinations | Probability | Return |
---|---|---|---|---|
Banker wins | -1 | 2,292,252,566,437,888 | 0.458597 | -0.458597 |
Player wins | 1 | 2,230,518,282,592,256 | 0.446247 | 0.446247 |
Tie | 0 | 475,627,426,473,216 | 0.095156 | 0 |
Total | 4,998,398,275,503,360 | 1 | -0.012351 |
Tie Bet — 8 Decks
Event | Pays | Combinations | Probability | Return |
---|---|---|---|---|
Banker wins | -1 | 2,292,252,566,437,888 | 0.458597 | -0.458597 |
Player wins | -1 | 2,230,518,282,592,256 | 0.446247 | -0.446247 |
Tie | 8 | 475,627,426,473,216 | 0.095156 | 0.761248 |
Total | 4,998,398,275,503,360 | 1 | -0.143596 |
Pair Bets — 8 Decks
Event | Pays | Combinations | Probability | Return |
---|---|---|---|---|
Pair | 11 | 6448 | 0.074699 | 0.821687 |
No pair | -1 | 79872 | 0.925301 | -0.925301 |
Total | 86320 | 1 | -0.103614 |
Six-Deck Analysis
The following return tables show the possible outcomes of the Player, Banker, and Tie bets for a 6-deck game. As the lower right cells in each table show, the house edge is 1.06% on the Banker bet, 1.24% on the Player bet, and 14.44% on the Tie.
Banker Bet — 6 Decks
Event | Pays | Combinations | Probability | Return |
---|---|---|---|---|
Banker wins | 0.95 | 403095751234560 | 0.458653 | 0.43572 |
Player wins | -1 | 392220492728832 | 0.446279 | -0.446279 |
Tie | 0 | 83552962932288 | 0.095069 | 0 |
Total | 878869206895680 | 1 | -0.010558 |
Player Bet — 6 Decks
Event | Pays | Combinations | Probability | Return |
---|---|---|---|---|
Banker wins | -1 | 403095751234560 | 0.458653 | -0.458653 |
Player wins | 1 | 392220492728832 | 0.446279 | 0.446279 |
Tie | 0 | 83552962932288 | 0.095069 | 0 |
Total | 878869206895680 | 1 | -0.012374 |
Tie Bet — 6 Decks
Event | Pays | Combinations | Probability | Return |
---|---|---|---|---|
Banker wins | -1 | 403095751234560 | 0.458653 | -0.458653 |
Player wins | -1 | 392220492728832 | 0.446279 | -0.446279 |
Tie | 8 | 83552962932288 | 0.095069 | 0.76055 |
Total | 878869206895680 | 1 | -0.144382 |
Pair Bets — 6 Decks
Event | Pays | Combinations | Probability | Return |
---|---|---|---|---|
Pair | 11 | 3588 | 0.073955 | 0.813505 |
No pair | -1 | 44928 | 0.926045 | -0.926045 |
Total | 48516 | 1 | -0.11254 |
One-Deck Analysis
The following return tables show the possible outcomes of the Player, Banker, and Tie bets for a single deck game. As the lower right cells in each table show, the house edge is 1.01% on the Banker bet, 1.29% on the Player bet, and 15.75% on the Tie.
Banker Bet — 1 Deck
Event | Pays | Combinations | Probability | Return |
---|---|---|---|---|
Banker wins | 0.95 | 6737232640 | 0.459624 | 0.436643 |
Player wins | -1 | 6548674432 | 0.44676 | -0.44676 |
Tie | 0 | 1372227328 | 0.093615 | 0 |
Total | 14658134400 | 1 | -0.010117 |
Player Bet — 1 Deck
Event | Pays | Combinations | Probability | Return |
---|---|---|---|---|
Banker wins | -1 | 6737232640 | 0.459624 | -0.459624 |
Player wins | 1 | 6548674432 | 0.44676 | 0.44676 |
Tie | 0 | 1372227328 | 0.093615 | 0 |
Total | 14658134400 | 1 | -0.012864 |
Tie Bet — 1 Deck
Event | Pays | Combinations | Probability | Return |
---|---|---|---|---|
Banker wins | -1 | 6737232640 | 0.459624 | -0.459624 |
Player wins | -1 | 6548674432 | 0.44676 | -0.44676 |
Tie | 8 | 1372227328 | 0.093615 | 0.748923 |
Total | 14658134400 | 1 | -0.157461 |
Pair Bets — 1 Deck
Event | Pays | Combinations | Probability | Return |
---|---|---|---|---|
Pair | 11 | 78 | 0.058824 | 0.647059 |
No pair | -1 | 1248 | 0.941176 | -0.941176 |
Total | 1326 | 1 | -0.294118 |
Infinite Decks
Some Internet casinos claim to use an infinite number of decks in baccarat. The following four tables show the analysis of the Banker, Player, Tie, and Pair bets assuming an infinite deck shoe.
Banker — Infinite Decks
Event | Pays | Combinations | Probability | Return |
---|---|---|---|---|
Win | 0.95 | 2,212,744 | 0.458428 | 0.435507 |
Tie | 0 | 460,601 | 0.095426 | 0.000000 |
Loss | -1 | 2,153,464 | 0.446147 | -0.446147 |
Total | 4,826,809 | 1.000000 | -0.010640 |
Player — Infinite Decks
Event | Pays | Combinations | Probability | Return |
---|---|---|---|---|
Win | 1 | 2,153,464 | 0.446147 | 0.446147 |
Tie | 0 | 460,601 | 0.095426 | 0.000000 |
Loss | -1 | 2,212,744 | 0.458428 | -0.458428 |
Total | 4,826,809 | 1.000000 | -0.012281 |
Tie — Infinite Decks
Event | Pays | Combinations | Probability | Return |
---|---|---|---|---|
Win | 8 | 460,601 | 0.095426 | 0.763405 |
Loss | -1 | 4,366,208 | 0.904574 | -0.904574 |
Total | 4,826,809 | 1.000000 | -0.141170 |
Player/Banker Pair — Infinite Decks
Event | Pays | Combinations | Probability | Return |
---|---|---|---|---|
Win | 11 | 1 | 0.076923 | 0.846154 |
Loss | -1 | 12 | 0.923077 | -0.923077 |
Total | 13 | 1.000000 | -0.076923 |
Reduced Commission Banker Rules
Sign formerly seen at the D casino.
A less than 5% commission on winning banker Bets has been known to happen. As the image above shows, the D casino used to have a 4% commission Banker bet, but no longer do. For a short time in 1989 the Sahara offered 0% commission. The Betfair Internet casino offers a 2.75% commision in their 'Zero Lounge.' The following table shows the expected value on the Banker bet according to the number of decks and commission.
Reduced Commission on Banker Bet
Commission | 1 Deck | 6 Decks | 8 Decks |
---|---|---|---|
5.00% | -1.012% | -1.056% | -1.058% |
4.00% | -0.552% | -0.597% | -0.599% |
3.00% | -0.092% | -0.139% | -0.141% |
2.75% | 0.022% | -0.024% | -0.026% |
0.00% | 1.286% | 1.237% | 1.235% |
Red 8 Rule
Some casinos in London have a 'Red 8' rule, where winning Banker bets pay no commission on certain wins. For example, the Hippodromo casino has a 'red 8' rule where Banker bets pay even money if all of the following are true:
- Banker has two-card total of three points.
- Player has two-card total of five points or less, thus drawing a card.
- Player's third card is an 8.
Assuming eight decks, this lowers the house edge on the Banker bet from 1.06% to 0.81%. The following return table details the possible outcomes of the Banker bet under the Red 8 rule.
Red 8 Rule — Eight Decks
Event | Pays | Combinations | Probability | Return |
---|---|---|---|---|
Red 8 win | 1 | 243,809,554,247,680 | 0.048778 | 0.048778 |
All other banker wins | 0.95 | 2,048,443,012,190,200 | 0.409820 | 0.389329 |
Tie | 0 | 475,627,426,473,216 | 0.095156 | 0.000000 |
Player Wins | -1 | 2,230,518,282,592,250 | 0.446247 | -0.446247 |
Total | 4,998,398,275,503,350 | 1.000000 | -0.008140 |
Liberal Player Rules
The 'bonus casino' at the 5 Dimes Internet sports book pays 1.01 to 1 on the Player bet. Assuming eight decks, the house edge on that bet is 1.04%.
Liberal Tie Rules
Punto Banco Rules De
The Tie has been known to pay 9 to 1 at some casinos. For example, Binion's Horseshoe in Las Vegas used to, and the online casino pays 9 to 1. Here is the house edge on the tie bet if it pays 9 to 1.
- 8 decks: 4.844%
- 6 decks: 4.931%
- 1 deck: 6.385%
The 'bonus casino' at the 5 Dimes Internet sports book pays 9.4 to 1 on the Tie bet. Assuming eight decks, the house edge on that bet is 0.79%.
Liberal Pair Rules
I have an unconfirmed report that the Fallsview Casino in Niagara Falls pays 12 to 1 on either a Player pair or Banker pair. Based on an eight deck game, that would reduce the house edge to 2.89%. In a six-deck game the house edge would be 3.86%.
Egalite Bets
Egalities are side bets on specific ties in baccarat. These bets are often seen England and seldom elsewhere. Information about them has been moved off to my page on Egalite bets.
Riding Trends
Every baccarat table will have plenty of score cards and pencils for the players to keep track of the outcome of every hand. Most players will do so religiously and carefully analyze their card for trends as the winning hand switches back and forth from the banker to the player. This is a big waste of time! The smart player will bet on the banker every time and leave the score cards alone.
Calculator
Now you can enter any distribution of cards and my baccarat calculator will give you the odds for the Player, Banker, and Tie bets, broken down by all possible Player and Banker totals.
Practice Game
Practice your game for free with my baccarat game. It features a full history display and exact odds for the next hand.
Practice Mini-Baccarat for Free
Try my mini-baccarat Java applet. This will allow you to get familiar with the rules and how the game is played.
Simulations
Before you go and waste your money with a betting system in the casinos, test it out on my 250,000 simulated eight-deck shoes. They were created using a Mersenne Twister random number generator and a Fisher Yates shuffle.
Each file has 25,000 shoes and is 4.06 MB in size. Each line in each file is an individual shoe, starting with the shoe number, and followed by the outcome of each hand (P/B/T). The files are comma delimited for easy loading into Excel. If you need to see every card, I also have these two files.- 1000 6-deck shoes: 1000 computer generated baccarat shoes using six decks. (1.6 MB)
- 1000 8-deck shoes: 1000 computer generated baccarat shoes using eight decks. (1.2 MB)
Written by:Michael Shackleford
Punto Banco is a simple card game. It is derived from the famous card game baccarat, which is also called 'the rich man's card game', and is James Bond's favorite game.
There are two possible antagonists in this casino game. One of them is Punto hand (Punto – punter, player) and the other is the Banco hand (Banco – banker). Players can make a bet on any of them and in each hand, after short play, the winner is proclaimed. Our casino has introduced a new feature in this casino game that makes the game more dynamic: we allow playing on several boxes at once. Within each hand, the Punto and Banco can play several times.
BetVoyager features a conventional version of Punto Banco and a version with no house edge.
Basic Rules of Punto Banco
Punto Banco uses eight 52-card decks. Suits have no meaning. All face cards and 10s are worth 0 points, Aces are worth 1 point, and the remaining cards are assigned their face-value (for example, an Eight is worth 8 points and a Deuce is worth 2 points). After adding the total value of a hand, only the last digit is counted. For example, three 7s are equal to 1 point (not 21). The maximum possible sum is 9 and the minimum is 0.Before the deal the player makes a bet on at least one box in Punto Banco. He can bet on Punto, Banco or on a tie (Egalite). The player can combine these bets as he likes, meaning he can make two or even three bets on each box. These bets can be of different sizes.
Since all bets are placed, a successive play on boxes begins. Both the Punto and the Banco are dealt two cards face-up. In some cases, the third card can be added to any pair of cards, and as a result each side can have either two or three cards (see paragraphs 5–7 for further details). The side with the largest sum of points wins.
If the bet on Punto wins, it is paid 1:1 and the player loses the remaining bets on the box. If the bet on Banco wins, there is a slight difference and the bet is paid 95:100. In other words, the casino keeps 5 percent of the win. When the game ends in a tie, the bet on a tie is paid 9:1. Whenever there is a tie, any bets on Punto and Banco are considered unplayed and they are returned to the player.
Our No House Edge version features the following payouts. If the bet on Punto wins, the player gets additional 2.76% of the win. In other words, this bet is paid 1.0276:1. If the bet on Banco wins, the casino keeps not 5% of the win, but only 2.7%. When the game ends in a tie, the bet on a tie is paid 9.5:1.
The payouts on all bets for Punto Banco are rounded down to the nearest cent.
If either Punto or Banco was dealt 8 or 9 points, the game on that box is over. The Punto's and Banco's points are compared, and result is determined on the box.
If the Punto hand has 6 or 7 points, further actions depend on how many points the Banco has. If he has 6 or 7 points, the game is stopped, and result is determined. If the Banco has less than 6 points, he is dealt the third card, after which the game on that box is concluded.
If the Punto has less than 6 points, he is dealt a third card. Now the Banco can also take a third card if necessary, after which the game on that box is concluded. Two factors influence whether the Banco will receive a third card: the sum of his two original cards and the final card dealt to the Punto. This relationship is shown in the following table ('+' marks the cases when the Banco is dealt the third card):
Banco's Points | Punto's Third Card | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | |
0–2 | + | + | + | + | + | + | + | + | + | + |
3 | + | + | + | + | + | + | + | + | + | |
4 | + | + | + | + | + | + | ||||
5 | + | + | + | + | ||||||
6 | + | + | ||||||||
7 |
Additional Information about online baccarat
The player can play on up to four boxes in this card game. The bet on the Punto is made in the Punto field, the bet on the Banco is made in the Banco field, and the bet on a tie is made in the Egalite field. The minimum and maximum bets are indicated on the game table.
To make a bet, it is first necessary to choose a chip with the desired face-value. At the beginning of the game, this chip is chosen by default, and the chip with the minimum face-value fixes itself onto the cursor. If the player wants a chip with a different face-value, he can select it by clicking on that chip with the cursor. The player can also use the scroll wheel on his mouse to change the chip's value. After the chip is selected, the player can place a bet by clicking the mouse on the desired part of the game table and his bet will appear there. Each subsequent click adds another chip of the selected face-value to the bet. If the player wants to remove the last chip from his bet, he can remove the chip fixed onto the cursor by clicking the cursor on any empty part of the game window and then clicking on this bet.
The 'Clear' button can be pressed to remove all the bets from the table. If the player wishes to repeat his bets from the previous hand, he can press the 'Rebet' button. The 'Deal' button will begin the game after the bets have been made.
If the player wants to play several hands in a row and use the same bet each hand, he should click the 'AUTO' button to start autoplay.
If the player moves mouse cursor over this button, he will see a counter appear above it that displays the number of hands that will be made during autoplay. At the beginning of a game session, this number is equal to the maximum possible value – 1000, but it can be changed with the switches on the counter. Autoplay starts as soon as the 'AUTO' button is clicked, at the same time the maximum game speed is being set. The manual mode is restored by pressing the 'AUTO' button once more.
Cards are shuffled before every hand in Punto Banco.