Winning Baccarat Strategies

There are few games which have attracted the attention of gambling strategists more than Punto Banco/Baccarat. For many years now, players of the game have attempted to formulate the perfect, unbeatable, strategy from which to get rich!

Today, the internet is saturated with ‘infallible’ baccarat strategy systems, some costing thousands of dollars just to download, let alone learn.

Here, we cannot offer you any guarantees to help you get rich, and we will not be asking for money, just the time to read the following strategies in order to judge for yourself as to whether they seem viable. (Don’t forget, if you do find that these strategies help you to win money, to share your knowledge with other players in our forum).

The following article will give you a brief overview of our favourite Punto Banco/Baccarat system. Check out our advice, and if you like the sound of it then play for free at most, major, online casinos- we recommend Bodog as they provide excellent games with great graphics, and if you decide to play for real, they have great pay-out rates.

As a game, Baccarat is amazingly fun and exciting to play- but even more so if you can win!

BANKER OR TIE

If you look at the odds of winning in Punto Banco/Baccarat, you will see when the casino has the best edge– i.e. with a tie bet. If you place a bet on the tie bet then you will find that you win less frequently, but this also means that the pay-out is correspondingly high, this helps tempt players into placing this bet. The odds of winning a ‘Tie’ bet is, roughly, 10:1, but the pay-out is usually 8:1.

The remaining two bets, the Banker and Player, are similar to each other in terms of odds, but the payouts vary because the Banker bets, when won, normally incur a 5% commission-, you can now start to see where the casino makes some of its money in the game of Punto Banco.

THE MONEY BACK RULE

One of the winning strategies in Punto Banco rests on the rule that if the hands tie and you do not bet on the Tie, then the bet is returned to the player that placed the bet.

This rule means that when trying to establish the house odds in Baccarat you can effectively disregard the tie bet. If the 5% commission did not exist on the Banker bet, then the probability of winning a Banker bet would be just over 2:1, these are better than the odds of winning a coin flip. But even with the commission, the house still only has an advantage of around 1% on the Banker bet.

The Player bet has a slightly elevated house edge, of 1.25%, but because there is no commission, no money is deducted off the win. The Player bet has a slightly elevated house edge, of 1.25%, but because there is no commission, no money is deducted off the win. However, despite this, the Banker bet is still the best-placed bet in Baccarat.

BETTING NOT TO WIN

Many gamblers will feel odd about placing a bet on the Banker bets, it feels, to them, somewhat unnatural, as if they were placing a bet against themselves. This makes sense as many gambling games are played with the aim of beating the banker.

You need to remember that in Baccarat, the winners are determined as the people who predict the correct outcome of the round, who bet on the winning hand, and not the player who is playing the hand.

WINNING STRATEGIES FOR BACCARAT

The following is a strategy that we recommend when playing Punto Banco/Baccarat:

Because of the odds of the Banker bet, being very close to evens means that you can employ an even chances gambling strategy. The one that we prefer is the 1-2-3-4 system; this allows you to limit your losses yet still allows for a big win.

When you are on a winning streak then the bets should progress as below:

Your first bet should be 1 chip/£/$/etc; your second bet should be 2 chips/£’s/$’s/etc; your third bet should be for 3 chips/£’s/$’s/etc; your fourth bet should be for 4 chips/£’s/$’s/etc.

At the point that you make your first loss on a winning streak, then you revert back to the first bet, progressing again until you lose.

If you follow this baccarat system then:

  • When you lose on a first bet, you lose 1 chip/£/$;
  • When you lose on a second bet, you lose 2.05 chips/£’s/$’s/etc;
  • When you lose on a third bet, you make a profit of 1.8 chips/£’s/$’s/etc;
  • When you lose on a fourth bet, you make a profit of 1.7 chips/£’s/$’s/etc.

But when you win on a fourth bet, then you make an overall profit of 9.5 chips/£’s/$’s/etc.

This means that, when using this method, you are risking 2.05 chips/£’s/$’s/etc but you are potentially going to win 9.5 chips/£’s/$’s/etc. This means that you can have a run of four losing sequences but still get the money back with on winning streak.

SIMPLICITY AND CONSISTENCY FOR STRATEGIC PLAY

Using the 1-2-3-4 system is almost perfect; it takes account of the 5% commission charges but keeps risks to a minimum. It is perfect for all types of baccarat players, from beginners to the more advanced, high-stakes players. Of course, as was stated earlier, it is not a guaranteed system, you may not win, but it does give you a better chance of winning than if you had no strategy at all.

ON THE OTHER HAND, THE 1-2-3-6 METHOD

When you do a little research into the 1-2-3-6 technique in relation to baccarat, you will find that it comes highly recommended. We have even found it for sale on a rather well known auctioning site, which touts it as an ‘unbeatable’ system.

Although the 1-2-3-6 may be a good strategy to employ in many even chance games, such as Sic Bo or Roulette, in Baccarat it does not work very well because of the 5% commission charge on the Banker bet.

Many strategy sites will inform the player that the 1-2-3-6 system means that when a player losses on the fourth bet, then they break even, but this is not true, they actually lose 0.3 chips/£’s/$’s/etc.

The 1-2-3-6 bet should only be used on the Player bet when no commission exists, but because the Player bet gives the house a better advantage then you will be less likely to win, and thus be losing more often.

Joseph Kerney

COO & Baccarat Expert

Joseph Kerney is our COO and baccarat expert. Joseph has worked in the online gambling industry for over a decade as an affiliate before joining our team.

Leave a comment