Online Baccarat - The Game With the Best Player Advantage

Online baccarat is based on a land casino baccarat variant known as Punto Banco, which stands for Player and Banker. The simple essence is that hands are dealt to a designated Player and Banker and you have to predict who will win.

The hands are valued as follows. Cards from 2 to 9 are valued at their pip value. A is valued at 1 point and 10, J, Q and K are valued at 0 points. The values of all the cards are added and the tens digit is dropped to give the hand value. The Player is first dealt two cards and, if required by the rules, a third card. Similarly the Banker is also dealt a hand of two or three cards. The hand with a higher value wins.

If you have bet on the Banker and the Banker has the higher hand then your bet wins. The Banker bet pays 1 to 1, but a 5% commission is deducted from the payout. The Player bet pays 1 to 1 on winning. But the Banker bet has a slightly lower house edge. Therefore you have to keep backing the Banker bet after bet.

Many online baccarat variants offer side bets like the Tie bet. But these should be avoided because of an unacceptable house edge.

Variations in online baccarat are discussed in the software provider sections. Some interesting land casino baccarat games are explained here.

Chemin de Fer is like poker, where the players bet against each other with the casino taking rake. The highest bidder gets the Banker position and accepts bets from other players. He also acts as the dealer and deals the cards for the Banker hand and the Player hand. All the other players have to bet on the Player hand. The player who has bet the most plays the hand of the Player. The player acting as the Banker collects losing bets and pays out winning ones.

In Baccarat Banque players wager against the casino. There is one Banker position and two Player positions. Two players play the Player hands. The other players can bet on either of the Player hands. Each Player hand is independently matched against the Banker hand and payouts made as required.

Microgaming offers three baccarat variants – Baccarat, Baccarat Gold Series and High Limit Baccarat.

Baccarat Gold Series is the most sophisticated of these Microgaming baccarat variants. It is a multi-hand game and you can place bets at up to five seats at a time. It is played with 8 decks. Some amazing card dealing animations have been included. At the start of the game the decks are shuffled, the burn cards removed and then placed in the shoe. You can peek at the cards of the hand that you have bet on using squeeze and rotate options as in real casinos. You have a Tie bet that wins if both Banker and Player hands are tied and pays 8 to 1. The Banker and Player Pair bets win if the hand is dealt a pair up front and pays 11 to 1. There is a history chart and a roadmap chart that tracks the outcomes for players who want to use this information for betting.

Playtech offers only one baccarat variant at its online casinos and it is a simple game with no frills. It is a single hand game. You first place your bets. The maximum limit is AU$300. The Player hand and the Banker hand are dealt two cards each. After that the third card is dealt to each hand if required. The hands are then compared and bets settled. The only side bet is the Tie bet. Though it pays 9 to 1, the payout is still too low to be viable.

Playtech Baccarat incorporates dealer’s voice that announces the hand values and comments on the game situation. This is a useful tool for new baccarat players who would otherwise take some time in figuring out what is happening. Expert players can opt for the Fast Play mode that deals cards more quickly. You have a choice from three background music tracks.

Net Entertainment offers Baccarat Pro Series and Punto Banco Pro Series. Both baccarat variants are identical, except for the use of the Latino words in the second game.

The Net Entertainment baccarat games are simple single hand games. They can be played in three bet ranges. The low roller range has a maximum bet of AU$10, the standard range has a maximum bet of AU$100 and the high roller range has a maximum bet of AU$1000 and a minimum bet of AU$10. The Tie bet is offered with a payout of 9 to 1. The history of past games is displayed on the screen. If you do not want this you can disable the option. There is no dealer’s voice but there are other audio options that can be enabled or disabled. There are nine different speeds of card dealing that you can choose from.