It’s pretty much impossible to talk about Baccarat without bringing up James Bond. The two will forever be linked, as both became wildly popular after Ian Fleming’s first Bond novel, Casino Royale, was published in 1953. Not only did Fleming show our hero playing Baccarat in order to bankrupt the evil Le Chiffre, he also included a section explaining the rules of the game, so eager readers could follow along with the action.
Unfortunately, that section has been cut from most modern printings of Casino Royale, but don’t worry: We’ve got everything you need to know in this handy online Baccarat guide. Baccarat is one of the easiest ways to have fun when you play table games online at Slots.lv. By the time you’ve finished this online Baccarat guide, you’ll be armed and ready to play Baccarat for real money – formal attire not required.
When you play online Baccarat at Slots.lv, you’ll be playing a simplified version of the game that Bond used to help defeat the bad guys. That game is called chemin de fer, and can still be found at casinos in France. The game you’ll be playing here is punto banco, which was developed in Argentina in the early 1950s and didn’t find its way to Las Vegas until 1959 – six years after Casino Royale was published.
The punto banco game of Baccarat is much more straightforward than the chemin de fer version because almost all of the decisions are made automatically. There are also just two people at the table when you play online: the Player (punto) and the casino Banker (banco). Each will receive two play cards, and then maybe draw a third, depending on a standard set of rules that we’ll explain shortly. Both sides will be aiming to score as close to nine points as possible. You can bet on either the Player or the casino Banker winning the hand, or you can bet on the Tie.
Card Values and Drawing Rules The scoring in Baccarat is a bit like Blackjack, except Aces are always one point, and you don’t have to worry about busting. That’s because the only possible scores in Baccarat are 0 through 9. If the cards in a play hand add up to more than that, the “tens” column of the score is ignored; for example, if someone is dealt a Nine and a Six, that adds up to 15, which means the score is changed to 5. This also means that Kings, Queens, Jacks and Tens are actually worth zero points in Baccarat instead of 10 like in Blackjack.
When you load up an online game of Baccarat at Slots.lv (both Classic and “New” games are available), you’ll be provided with virtual chips that you’ll use for betting – $1 is the minimum wager, and $500 is the maximum. After you place your play bet, the Player and Banker will each receive two play cards, face-up. At this point, if either of our combatants has been dealt a score of 8 or 9, that’s called a “natural,” and that’s it for the hand – the winning bets are paid out and the next play hand is dealt.
If nobody gets dealt a natural, then it’s time to decide whether a third card will be drawn. Again, this is done automatically in punto banco, using the predetermined set of drawing rules. Action starts with the Player; if they have 0-5 points, they draw, and if they have 6-7, they stand. Next, we move to the casino Banker, and this is where the rules get a bit more complex. The Banker will draw or not depending on two things: how many points they have, and the value of the Player’s third card (if any). If the Player doesn’t draw, the casino Banker follows the same rules as the Player, drawing on 0-5 and standing on 6-7.
If the Player does draw a third play card, a tableau (French for “table”) is used to show all the situations when the Banker is supposed to draw. You can find this online tableau at Slots.lv by consulting the online game description to the left of your Baccarat display; a similar example is provided below, with “D” indicating where the casino Banker draws a third card.
| Value of Player's Third Card |
| Banker's Total | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
| 7 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 6 | - | - | - | - | - | - | D | D | - | - |
| 5 | - | - | - | - | D | D | D | D | - | - |
| 4 | - | - | D | D | D | D | D | D | - | - |
| 3 | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | - | D |
| 2 | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D |
| 1 | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D |
| 0 | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D |
It’s not necessary to memorize this online Baccarat tableau, since all the drawing will be done automatically, but it will help you understand the game better as it unfolds. You might find it easier to memorize the following list instead, with the casino Banker’s total on the left and the required action on the right:
0-2: Draw
3: Draw if Player’s third card is 0-7 or 9
4: Draw if Player’s third card is 2-7
5: Draw if Player’s third card is 4-7
6: Draw if Player’s third card is 6-7
7: Stand
While you’ll never have to decide whether to draw a third play card in Baccarat, or employ any other Baccarat game play strategy for that matter, you do have one game decision to make before every play hand: Who will you bet on? It helps to know the casino house edge for each of the three bets. If you bet on the Player and win, you get paid out at even-money real money; the Player will win about 44.6% of the time at Slots.lv, where a six-deck shoe is used (and shuffled automatically between hands). That gives you a casino house edge of 1.24%, one of the smallest edges you’ll find for any casino game.
But not as small as the casino house edge for the game banker. The real money payout here is even money minus a 5% commission, but since the casino Banker will win about 45.9% of the time, that still leaves you with a tiny casino house edge of 1.06%. If you want to stretch out your online Baccarat sessions as long as possible, always bet on the game Banker. If you want a little more variety in your Baccarat game, bet on the casino Banker more than half the time, and add a healthy number of Player bets during your Baccarat game session.
The biggest real money payouts in Baccarat are reserved for the Tie bet. If both the Player and casino Banker have the same number of points at the end of the hand, winning Tie bets at Slots.lv are paid out at 9/1 with real money. That’s a more generous payout than you’ll find at most live casinos, which only offer 8/1. However, the Tie will only happen 9.51% of the time with the six-deck shoe, generating a casino house edge of 4.93%. That’s still lower than what you’ll find with, say, American Roulette (5.26%), but if you’re trying to stretch your entertainment dollar, sprinkle in your Tie bets judiciously while leaning more on the casino Banker and Player.
Since all three bets available in punto banco Baccarat have casino house edges attached, you won’t be able play this game professionally – or use it to kneecap your enemies like James Bond. But that doesn’t mean you can’t be smart with your money when you play Baccarat at Slots.lv. Making bets as described above will help you get the most value out of your sessions; you should also choose a bet size that’s commensurate with your real money bankroll.
With that in mind, consider planning your online Baccarat sessions to last a certain length of time, on average. You can do this by figuring out how many play hands per hour you play, then do some math with the house edges for each bet you want to make, and choose an appropriate play bet size to reach your target, given the size of your bankroll. Once you have this bet size worked out, don’t deviate from it – unless you want to make it smaller. Increasing your online play bet size will only cause your sessions to end more quickly on average, so don’t go chasing losses or trying to ride hot streaks.
And as always, don’t play Baccarat with real money you can’t afford to lose. There will be times when you end your online session in the black, and times when you lose more money than you win, but that’s not the point of playing. Online Baccarat should be played for entertainment purposes, so keep it fun, end your play sessions when you’ve reached your targeted time, and you’ll get maximum value for your Baccarat buck.
With all this Baccarat knowledge under your belt, you should be more than ready to hit the online tables at Slots.lv. Try Baccarat for free using the Practice Play mode, and start playing Real Money Baccarat once you’re happy with how things are going. Baccarat is highly entertaining once you learn the ropes or how to play, so get in the game today, and we’ll see you on the online felt.
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