What is Online Baccarat?
Online Baccarat is a popular casino game, and it’s easy to see why. Baccarat is simple to play, and the house edge is low. There are many variants of the game. But since the dealer has to deal all the cards when you’re online, nearly all the online baccarat games provided are mini baccarat variants. Let’s start off by explaining the rules or check out our selection of primo online casinos for Online Baccarat.
Online Baccarat Rules
Most online baccarat games are dealt from a card shoe with eight decks. Regular card decks are used. The card values are – Aces: 1 point, 2s through 9s: the face value, 10s and the face cards: 0 points.
Before any cards are dealt, players bet on two outcomes: Player win or Banker win. The hand with the highest value wins. There is also a third bet, Tie, but it’s more of a side bet. More on those later, because there are usually a couple to choose from.
The dealer then deals two cards each to the Player and Banker hands.
The hand values are calculated by adding together the values of the two cards. 9 is the maximum value. So if a hand value goes to 10 or above, you keep the last digit and drop the leading digits. For example, if the Player hand is an eight and a four it would have a hand value of 12. But since only the last digit counts, the hand value is 2.
The (optional) third card
A third card may or may not be dealt to the Player or Banker depending on the following rules.
- If either the Player or the Banker has 8 or 9 points, both hands will stand. This is called a ‘natural.’
- If the Player total is 6 or 7 it stands.
- If the Player total is 5 or less, one more card is dealt to the Player.
- If the Player didn’t draw a third card, the Banker follows the same rules as the Player.
- If the Player did draw a third card, the Banker draws a third card or not depending on their hand value and the value of the third Player card.
- If the Banker total is 2 or less, they draw a third card regardless of what the Player’s third card is.
- If the Banker total is 3, they draw a third card unless the Player’s third card is an 8.
- If the Banker total is 4, they draw a third card if the Player’s third card is 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7.
- If the Banker total is 5, they draw a third card if the Player’s third card is 4, 5, 6, or 7.
- If the Banker total is 6, they draw a third card if the Player’s third card is a 6 or 7.
- If the Banker total is 7, they stand.
The rules are a bit complicated, especially for the Banker’s third card. However, if you’re playing online baccarat, the dealer will be the one that has to remember the rules. So you are off the hook. Just relax and let them do their job.
The Player and Banker hands are then compared, and the one with a higher score wins. If they have the same score, it’s a tie.
If you bet on Tie, you win if the Player and Banker tie, any other result is a loss.
A Player win pays out 1:1.
A Banker win pays out 19:20.
A Tie win pays out 8:1.
House Edges and Commission at Online Baccarat
A Banker win pays out less than a Player win because the Banker hand has a small advantage over the Player hand. This comes mostly from the fact that the Banker hand is resolved after the Player hand and plays with more information available. To avoid everyone betting on the Banker hand, a 5% commission is placed on the Banker bet. This is why the Banker bet pays out 19:20 instead of 1:1. This makes the Player and the Banker bet almost even in value.
The house edge on the Player bet (with 8 decks) is 1.24% and 1.06% on the Banker bet (including the commission). The house edge on the Tie bet is a staggering 14.36%.
A common variant on commission is to have a ‘no commission’ Banker bet. With this commission variant you don’t pay commission. In return you only win 0.5:1 if you win on a Banker hand of 6. This unsurprisingly turns out to be a worse deal than taking a commission, resulting in a house edge of 1.46%.
Online Baccarat Strategy
There is no strategy in online baccarat, just put your money on the Banker bet and hope for the best. That’s literally all you can do to optimize your play. If you play for entertainment value, as is recommended, you can obviously vary your betting for fun. Just be aware that the side bets are much worse bets statistically. There are often quite a few different side bets available on online baccarat tables, which have more exciting payouts than 1:1.
Popular Side Bets in Online Baccarat
Most of the side bets will be related to whether the Player or Banker gets a pair on the deal.
Tie
Technically a side bet, the Tie bet has been discussed earlier. It pays out 8:1 on a win and has a 14.36% house edge.
Player Pair and Banker Pair
You bet on whether the Player or Banker will get a pair on the deal. If the hand you bet on gets a pair it pays out 11:1. The house edge on this bet is a high 10.36%.
Perfect Pairs
This is a bet that either the Player or the Banker hand will get an identical pair on the deal, say, two seven of hearts. If this happens you win, and the payout is 25:1. The house edge on this bet is 13.03%.
Player Bonus or Banker Bonus
This is a bet that a hand will win either by getting a natural, or by winning by more than 4 points. The more points your hand wins by, the bigger your payout, capping out at a 30:1 payout if you win by 9 points. The house edge on this bet is 2.65% on the Player Bonus bet and 9.37% on the Banker Bonus bet.
As you can see most of the side bets are terrible compared to the basic Player or Banker bets, often up to 10 times worse. We don’t recommend that you play any of them, except maybe the Player Bonus bet. This bet is only twice as bad as a Player or Banker bet. They do have larger payouts. Plus the anticipation of getting a perfect pair win could be the excitement you’re looking for. So go for it if you feel it’s your thing.
Conclusion
Online baccarat is a great game for inexperienced and experienced players alike. There are no skills needed to play. Just plonk your bet down on either Player or Banker and let the dealer do their job. The house edge is also one of the lowest you’ll find. It is only beaten by blackjack played by a skilled player and maybe craps depending on the bets chosen. There’s a reason that baccarat is one of the most popular table games out there. You can find the best Canadian Online Baccarat tables in our casino listings and have a go.
Have a good one!
