How to play baccarat, a volatile casino game that’s easy to learn
Baccarat, the second most popular table game in Las Vegas after blackjack, is played at most Southern Nevada casinos. But how do you play?
The game James Bond plays in all those 007 movies is the most volatile game on the casino floor due to rich players betting big bucks every hand. It is relatively easy to learn and, like blackjack, it is played with simple addition.
Like blackjack, each baccarat card has a face value, but unlike blackjack, where face cards and 10s carry a value of 10 in a quest to reach 21, face cards and 10s equal zero, and the goal is to reach 9. Aces carry a value of 1 in baccarat.
Players start by placing a wager on the player, the banker or a tie. In Las Vegas, bets usually are $10 to $100. The banker isn’t the house … it’s just the opponent of the player.
The player and banker receive two cards each, and their values are added. If a player gets a 5 and a 2, the hand is a 7. If the banker gets a king and an ace, the value is 1 because the face card is a zero.
If the player or banker hand totals 8 or 9, it’s considered a “natural,” and it’s a winning hand. But any other combination of points could require a third card to be dealt.
The player and banker have different card drawing rules. The player stands on a 6 or 7 and draws a card with a 5 or less. The banker draws on a 3 if the player has an 8. It draws on a 4 if the player’s hand totals 2 through 7, on a 5 if the player totals 4 through 7, and on a 6 if the player has a 6 or 7.
Those who bet on the player when the player wins receive even money, which results in a house advantage of 1.24 percent. Those winning on the banker also receive even money, but there’s a 5 percent house commission, resulting in a house edge of 1.06 percent.
Betting on a tie carries the longest odds — 8:1 — and the house edge is 14.36 percent.
Over the past 20 years, the casino win percentage for baccarat has ranged from 10.7 percent in 2008 up to 21.9 percent in 2002, according to the Nevada Gaming Control Board. Normally, the casino win is around 11 or 12 percent for the game.
By comparison, the lowest blackjack win percentage over the past 20 years was 10.7 percent in 2010, and the highest was 14.8 percent in 2017 and 2023.
In the past 20 years, the number of baccarat tables in the state has moved from fewer than 100 in 2002 and 2003 to nearly 400 in 2022 and 2023.
The highest amount wagered in baccarat occurred in 2014, when $12 billion was bet. Casinos won $1.5 billion that year, just under the high of $1.6 billion in 2013.
Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on X.