Baccarat rules

What baccarat is and how a round works

The common version is punto banco. Two hands are dealt, Player and Banker, two cards each, and the hand closer to 9 wins.

You do not play the Player hand and you never choose whether to draw. Before the deal you pick a bet: Player, Banker or Tie. The dealer then applies fixed drawing rules, usually from a shoe of six or eight decks.

Baccarat card values

Cards count as follows:

Only the last digit of the total counts. A 7 and an 8 make 15, so the hand is worth 5. A king and a 9 make 9, and two tens make 0. A hand can never go above 9.

The three bets and their payouts

• Player: pays 1:1.
• Banker: pays 1:1 minus a 5 percent commission on the win, so a 100 credit win becomes 95.
• Tie: usually pays 8:1. Some casinos pay 9:1, so rules vary.

If the round ends in a tie, Player and Banker bets are not lost. They are returned and a new round begins.

Naturals: 8 and 9

If either hand totals 8 or 9 on its first two cards, that is a natural. Nobody draws and the round ends right there. A natural 9 beats a natural 8, and equal naturals are a tie.

The Player third card rule

Without a natural, the Player hand acts first:

• Total 0 to 5: Player draws a third card.
• Total 6 or 7: Player stands.

When Player stands on 6 or 7, Banker uses the same rule: draw on 0 to 5, stand on 6 or 7.

The Banker third card rule

When Player has drawn a third card, Banker's move depends on its own total and on the value of that Player card. The full rule:

Example: Banker holds 4 and Player's third card is a 6, so Banker draws. Had that card been an 8, Banker would stand. The dealer applies all of this automatically, so you never need to memorise it to play.

A full round as an example: Player gets 3 and 2 for 5, Banker gets a king and a 6 for 6. There is no natural, so Player draws on 5 and receives a 7. Player's total is now 12, which counts as 2. Banker on 6 draws when Player's third card is a 6 or 7, so Banker draws and gets a 2. Banker has 8 against Player's 2, and the Banker bet wins, minus the 5 percent commission.

The house edge in baccarat

• Banker: about 1.06 percent, after the 5 percent commission.
• Player: about 1.24 percent.
• Tie at 8:1: about 14.4 percent.

Banker wins slightly more often than Player because it acts last and knows Player's third card. The commission exists to balance that out. The Tie bet tempts with its big payout but is by far the costliest bet on the table. Past results change none of this, since every round starts fresh.

Tables often display scorecards of previous results, and some players hunt them for streaks and patterns. Those boards only record the past. If Banker has won five times in a row, the chance it wins the sixth is essentially the same as before the first hand. Progressive betting systems are no different: they change how much you stake, not the house edge.

Dragon Tiger in brief

Dragon Tiger strips baccarat down to its bones. One card goes to Dragon, one to Tiger, and the higher card wins. Aces are low at 1 and kings are high.

• Dragon or Tiger bets pay 1:1.
• The Tie bet usually pays 8:1.
• On a tie, Dragon and Tiger bets typically lose half the stake, though casinos vary.

With the half stake rule on ties, the house edge on Dragon or Tiger is about 3.7 percent, well above the Banker bet in baccarat. Rounds take only seconds, so results pile up very quickly.

Playing baccarat on this site

Baccarat and Dragon Tiger here are played with virtual credits only. There are no deposits, no withdrawals and nothing can be won. Use it to watch the third card rule in action and learn the game without any risk. If it ever stops being fun, take a break.