You can play real money baccarat at just about any gambling site. Baccarat has a rich history, but much of its popularity can be traced to its simple rules. It is not a difficult or complicated game to play.
If you’re unfamiliar with baccarat, the basic idea is to place a bet on one of three outcomes: player, banker or tie. The dealer handles all the cards and determines the winner based on the values of those cards. If your pick is the winner, you win your bet.
Let’s start with a few of the best casinos for online baccarat:
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The Best US Baccarat Casinos for 2016
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The Best Baccarat Casinos for 2016
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The Best Baccarat Casinos for 2016
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Click on any of the links above to visit the casino website and download the software. All three of the above gambling sites are recognized for being trustworthy casinos. Each one has been providing real money gambling games for years and has performed an excellent job over that time.
To be blunt, online baccarat is pretty much the same wherever you go. Every gambling site I’ve ever visited has had baccarat tables that all look basically the same. The only real differences I’ve found over the years are how the casinos as a whole operate.
As long as you find a safe baccarat casino, you’ll be in good hands. The rules of the game are the same at all major gambling sites. So my advice to you is to just pick based on security/trust and the availability of other games that you enjoy.
See the following pages for more details on the nuts and bolts of the game:
Online Baccarat Basics
Baccarat is one of the easiest-to-learn casino games of them all. All you have to do is place your wager and then pick whether the player or banker will win. You can also bet on a tie occurring.
Note: The term “player” does not refer to you or any of the other human players at the table. The casino acts as both the player and banker in this game. You are only betting on which outcome will win.
That’s about all there is to it. Place your bet, watch the dealer do his thing and then collect your winnings. In live casinos, players have all sorts of superstitions that might make the game look complicated, but the nuts and bolts are simple.
Bets and Payouts
There are three different bets that you can place in baccarat with the following payouts:
- Player payout: 1:1
- Banker payout: 1:1
- Tie payout: 8:1
The two primary bets, player and banker, pay out even money. That means if you bet a dollar and win, you’ll get a dollar. The tie payout means that if you wager a dollar and win, you’ll get $8.
Don’t Bet on the Tie
The tie bet is enticing because it has a higher payout than all the others. The casino does that for a reason – who doesn’t like to win 8 times their original wager? The catch is that the tie outcome occurs way less often than once every 8 hands. The house advantage in this wager is much higher than the other two wagers.
You actually get the best odds by betting on the banker. The house advantage on that wager is about 1.01%. This makes it one of the best bets in the entire casino. A simple strategy for real money baccarat is to bet on the banker every time. In fact, that’s the entire strategy for the game.
The house advantage on the “player” outcome is a little higher at 1.2%. This is because the scoring system in baccarat ever-so-slightly favors the banker outcome. The player bet isn’t too bad, but if you really want to squeeze every little bit of house advantage out of the game, the banker bet is the best.
Video
For those of you who prefer video, here’s a nice one from YouTube that demonstrates baccarat in action. One thing the video doesn’t make very clear is that the people playing the game don’t actually make any decisions. Remember, this game is played on autopilot once you choose which side you want to bet on.
Free Game
Here’s a play-money flash game you can play without having to download the software or even sign up for an account. I got this from Lucky Red Casino and you can use it to practice your strategy and get a hang of the game.
If the game doesn’t load properly, you’ll need to turn off any ad blockers and enable flash on your web browser. Then refresh it and it should work. If that doesn’t do the trick, try opening this page in a different browser.
Real Money Bonuses
You know those big bonuses that casinos promise on their websites? Well, I have bad news for baccarat players. Those bonuses rarely apply to baccarat.
You see, bonuses must be “cleared” before they can be withdrawn. Almost every real money casino on the internet does not count baccarat towards meeting those wagering requirements. If baccarat is the only game you play, you might as well get used to not getting bonuses.
The news isn’t all bad, however. Every once in a while, Lucky Red Casino offers “all game” bonuses. These special bonuses allow you to play any game in the casino, including baccarat. If you sign up for an account at Lucky Red, you’ll get notices whenever these bonuses are available.